


Do You Hear That, Love?

by ProbablyVoldemort



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Babies, Car Accidents - Mention, Engagement, F/M, Fluff, Funeral, Identity Reveal, Light Angst, Marriage Proposal, Minor Character Death, Weddings, lots of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-06 18:59:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 35,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8765149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProbablyVoldemort/pseuds/ProbablyVoldemort
Summary: The last thing Adrien was expecting from his Tuesday morning was for his brother and sister-in-law to die in a car accident.The last thing Marinette was expecting from her Tuesday night was for Chat Noir to appear on her balcony with a baby and a pink diaper bag.





	1. I'm Here For You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Asavage400](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asavage400/gifts).



> Hey! This is my Secret Santa present for asavage400! Merry Christmas!  
> Also apparently baby fics are my thing now? I don't know how that happened, but I've got two now and ideas for two more so idk ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
> The original plan was to base this off Life As We Know It (the Katherine Heigl movie) but it kind of went on it's own path so that didn't really happen aside from the whole baby part. But you know. Things happen.  
> There's really only angst in the first little bit and then it's just a massive amount of fluff.  
> It also got really long which is why it's split into chapters here.  
> Oh yeah. Title and lyrics are from [All About Us by He Is We and Owl City](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7Gf2SOmz5Q).  
> Also, I finished writing this and then read something and apparently babies don't actually start laughing until they're four months old and I really didn't feel like going back and fixing all the times Adeline laughed before she was that age so let's just pretend that she's an early bloomer or ML universe babies laugh earlier.  
> I hope everyone has a fantastic holiday!  
> Enjoy! :)

_Take my hand, I’ll teach you to dance_   
_I’ll spin you around, won’t let you fall down_   
_Would you let me lead?  You can step on my feet_   
_Give it a try, it’ll be alright_

 

Adrien tore into the hospital, heart racing and breaths coming in fast.  A nurse passed, clipboard in hand, and he all but tackled her.

“Please, you have to help me,” he begged.  “Where are they?  Where’s Felix?  And Bridgette?  Are they okay?”

The nurse pulled out of his grip, raising her hands in placation.  “You’ll have to go to the front desk,” she told him.  “They’ll have information for you.”

Adrien nodded, running a hand through his hair, and didn’t say anything as he rushed in the direction of the front desk.

The man sitting behind the counter barely glanced up.  “Name?”

“Adrien.”  He stared past the desk, past the man, trying to catch a glimpse of his brother or his sister-in-law through the tiny window in the emergency room door.  “Adrien Agreste.  I got—I got a call about my—my brother.  Felix?  Felix Agreste and—and Bridgette?” He paused, eyes moving to the man as he collapsed against the desk.  “They’re okay, right?”

The man finally looked up from his computer.  “Please take a seat, M. Agreste,” he told him.  “We’ll have someone come out and let you know what’s going on in a minute.”

Adrien nodded slowly and let out a breath, turning to stare at the chairs.  This was good.  This was fine.  He could sit here and wait a couple more minutes for someone to tell him what the hell was going on and why Felix and Bridgette were in the hospital.  This was okay.

Except it wasn’t.

Adrien Agreste hadn’t exactly been normal growing up.  He’d never gone to a real school, and, at the age of twenty two, he had a total of five friends.  Maybe six, but he wasn’t sure if Bridgette was really his friend or not. 

There was Chloe, who was the only one his age at social functions growing up.  There was Nino, who he’d met when he was fifteen and going through a rebellious phase and had gotten lost in a mall.  There was Ladybug, the love of his life and his girlfriend of almost five years, and with whom he was planning to share their actual identities on their anniversary in two weeks.  There was Marinette, who offered him cookies and hot chocolate and a shoulder to cry on when he’d first started out as Chat Noir, and who was second only to Ladybug in really knowing him.  And then there was Felix.  His brother, the only family he had left after what happened with their dad, and the only one who knew Adrien as well as Ladybug and Marinette knew Chat.

So he was there, pacing and waiting, for any news, because his brother needed to be alright.  He had to be alright.

“Adrien Agreste?”

He froze, turning with wide eyes.  A doctor and a police officer stood near the entrance to the emergency room.  His heart stopped at the sight of the doctor’s bloodied scrubs.

He opened his mouth to reply, and had to close it again, swallowing the lump in his throat.  “That’s—that’s me.”

The doctor crossed the room, hands clenched in front of her.  “There was an accident,” she started, and Adrien couldn’t breathe.  “Felix and Bridgette were in a car accident.  Felix is in surgery right now, and we’re trying everything we can, but his injuries were substantial.”

“No.”  Adrien shook his head, finally sinking into a chair.  “No, no, no.”

The doctor tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.  “I’m sorry, M. Agreste, but we’re doing everything we can.”

Adrien closed his eyes, trying to steady his breathing.  They’d fix whatever was wrong with Felix, and everything would be okay.  He looked back up, glancing between the doctor and the police officer.  “What about Bridgette?  And Adeline?”

“Adeline is with their friends,” the police officer said, and Adrien let out a relieved breath, pressing his fists against his forehead.  That was good.  Adeline was fine.

“And Bridgette?”

“I’m sorry, M. Agreste,” the officer said.  “She didn’t make it.”

Adrien didn’t say anything, couldn’t say anything as he stared into nothing, his throat closing up.  The doctor was saying something, as was the officer, but he couldn’t hear them over the ringing in his ears.

*********

It seemed like hours before word came about Felix, three bloodied doctors muttering placating words as Adrien screamed and punched a wall and screamed some more.

“We did everything we could.”

“His injuries were too great.”

“There was nothing more we could do.”

It seemed like hours before the anger left him, before he sunk, energy drained, into a chair, sobbing into his hands.

The officer was back, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“There’s a matter we have to discuss, M. Agreste,” she said, though Adrien didn’t look up.  “Adeline.  Your brother’s records have you as the godfather?”

*********

She closed the balcony door behind her with a frown and dropped her transformation.

“Where was he, Tikki?” Marinette wondered, crossing her apartment and entering the kitchen.  “He’s never missed a patrol before, not without telling me first.”  She piled a plate with cookies, shoving it onto the counter.  “What if something happened to him?”

“I’m sure he’s alright, Marinette,” Tikki assured her chosen, flitting over to sit on top of the pile of sweets.  “Something probably came up last minute in his civilian life, and he’ll text you about it later.  I’m sure it’s nothing.”

Marinette nodded, fishing her cellphone out of her pocket.  Tikki was right.  Something probably came up and he just didn’t have a chance to warn her he’d be missing patrol.  Nothing bad had happened.  Everything was fine.

 

**[Ladybug] : [You okay, kitty?  Missed you on patrol <3]**

 

Text finished, she stole a cookie from under her kwami, leaning back against the stove as she munched on it.

“So I was thinking we order a pizza and marathon some Pirates of the Caribbean?” she suggested, and Tikki grinned around the cookie stuffed in her mouth and nodded.  Marinette scrolled through the contacts, looking for the name of her and Chat’s favourite pizza place.  “Hawaiian’s good, right?  I mean, we’ll have to get some meat lover’s in case Chat decides to show up for movie night, but you like Hawaiian?”

Tikki confirmed her pizza choices, and a half hour later they were snuggled under the couch with their box open beside them, Chat’s resting on the coffee table just in case.

“I had a Ladybug who was a pirate once,” the kwami commented, pulling a piece of pineapple off her slice of pizza as baby Elizabeth Swan talked about how exciting it would be to meet pirates.  “She was the most feared pirate captain of her time.  She saved so many lives.”

Marinette glanced down at Tikki, swallowing the bite she was chewing.  “Then why was she feared?” she wondered.

“You’ve watched these movies.”  She gestured at the screen with her tiny nubs.  “They aren’t making it up about it being bad luck to have a woman in a pirate crew.  Of course, when the entire crew is women and they’re freeing prisoners, saving children, and making bad men disappear, it’s a bit of a different story.”

Marinette opened her mouth to ask another question, but was interrupted by a knock on the balcony door.  Tikki smiled at the way her chosen’s eyes lit up, floating up from the couch with her slice of pizza.

“I told you he was fine,” she pointed out.  “Have fun, Marinette.”

Marinette grinned at her, pausing the movie as the kwami flew to a hiding place, dragging the pizza that was twice her size behind her.  She took a breath, steadying herself and running a hand through her hair before crossing to the doors.

“Hey, Chat!” she said brightly, swinging the door open.  “I’ve got pizza and Pirates of the—” She broke off, blinking in confusion.

Never in a million years had Marinette imagined Chat Noir showing up on her balcony with a screaming baby in his arms and a pink diaper bag slung over his shoulder.

His eyes were wide and panicked, glancing between her and the baby.  He held it awkwardly, clutched to his chest in a way that screamed he had no idea what he was doing.

Marinette found her voice again, carefully extracting the baby from her boyfriend’s arms.  “Where—where did you get a baby?” she asked, moving back into her apartment and pressing the baby against her chest.  It couldn’t have been more than a month or two old, and it was poorly wrapped in a yellow blanket.  The screaming didn’t stop as Marinette rocked back and forth.  “I thought you were dating Ladybug?”  _And this is definitely not Ladybug’s baby_ , she silently added.

Chat’s mouth opened and closed without saying anything, and Marinette sighed, pulling him inside and closing the door.  He didn’t move, staring at the ground while his fingers played with the pink strap across his chest.  Marinette, still trying to quiet the baby, was concerned.  Of course, she would have been concerned no matter what considering her boyfriend had brought a baby to her house, but something was definitely wrong.

“I hope you didn’t come to me with this just because I’m a girl and I’m supposed to know how to deal with babies,” she joked, trying to pull Chat out of whatever was going on.  Because she needed to know.  She needed to know what was happening with him, and she needed to know why he had a baby.  Because if she didn’t know really soon, she was probably going to explode.  Spontaneous combustion was a serious problem.

“I only have five friends, Marinette.”  Chat finally spoke, his words halting and lacking any emotion.  “Or, four now, I guess.  Two of them probably know even less about babies than me, and I don’t know where to find Ladybug and I left my phone at home or the hospital or something.  You used to babysit.  I thought maybe you might be able to help.”

The baby in her arms was still screaming, and Marinette was even more concerned.  What was with the change in Chat’s number of friends?  What was he doing at the hospital?  And his voice?  She hadn’t heard him sound so hollow since his father died.

She sucked in a breath, pieces clicking together, and hoped she was wrong.  But she couldn’t discuss this now, not until she got the baby quietened down and could hear herself think.

“Give me the bag,” she instructed, and Chat’s arms moved robotically to pull the diaper bag off of him.  “Good.  Now, go sit on the couch.  There’s pizza if you’re hungry.  We’re going to talk once the baby stops crying.”

Chat nodded mutely, crossing to the couch and sinking onto it, blank stare trained on the frozen pirates on the TV.  Marinette bit her lip, watching him in concern for a moment, before following him and lying the baby on the ground.

She unwrapped the blanket, methodically undoing the snaps on the purple onesie and blinking in surprise.  Chat—at least, she assumed it was Chat—clearly had little experience with babies, if the duct tape holding the diaper closed was anything to go by.  She didn’t mention it, though, digging through the diaper bag for supplies.  In a few short minutes, the baby was clothed in a fresh diaper, though she still hadn’t stopped screaming.

There was formula in the bag, and a bottle, though it hadn’t been made.  It’d take a few minutes for Marinette to Google exactly how that worked, so she lifted the baby once more and turned to Chat.

“Take off your suit.”

His gaze moved to her from the television.  “What?”

“Take off your suit,” she repeated, bouncing in place.  “The top part, I mean.  Get it down to your waist.”

Chat stared at her a moment longer, but tugged on his bell and pulled his arms out of the suit.  Marinette was on him in seconds, tucking the baby against his chest.

“Bring your hands up,” she told him, and he complied, hesitantly cupping the baby.  “Good.  Now, I’m going to let go, okay?”  He nodded and she moved her hands away.  She plucked the yellow blanket back off the ground, guiding his hands so she could tuck it around the baby, looping it around his back and tying it lightly over his shoulder.

“It’s called kangarooing,” she explained, gently moving his shoulders so he could relax against the couch.  “I read an article about it once.  Something about your heartbeat being calming to the baby, and the skin to skin contact helping with bonding.”  Chat nodded again, eyes trained on the baby and one hand tracing patterns against her back.  Marinette bit her lip, studying him for a moment.  “When’s the last time she ate?”

Chat didn’t look at her, but something flashed quickly through his eyes.  “A couple hours ago, I think,” he said.  “The babysitters said they fed her.”

Marinette nodded, straightening up.  “She might be hungry again.  I’m going to go figure out how to make up a bottle.  Just sit tight, okay?”  After deciding that another nod was all she was going to get, she picked up her phone and the bottle and the formula and retreated into the kitchen.

What was going on?  She flicked through Google, trying to figure out how often babies ate and how to turn formula into something to actually feed a baby, though her thoughts were more focused on Chat.  The sooner they calmed the baby down, the sooner she’d get answers.

Was the baby why he’d missed patrol?  Where did the baby even come from?  Who was the fifth friend that didn’t count anymore?  Who left Chat in charge of a baby when he so clearly had no idea what he was doing?  How did he manage to carry a baby across rooftops from wherever he was to her house?

Come to think of it, rooftop travel could quite possibly be what upset the baby.

She shook her head and, having found the information she needed, set about preparing the formula.

Chat hadn’t moved when she returned to the living room, the baby on his chest now fast asleep.  The only difference was that he was staring down at his baton in his hand, a picture of Ladybug blinking on the screen.  Marinette placed the unneeded bottle on the coffee table, moving the pizza over so she could sit beside him.  They sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the baby’s peaceful face scrunch up in sleep, before Marinette turned her gaze to Chat.

“Where did you get a baby?”

“I can’t reach her.”  Chat’s voice was barely a whisper, and he hadn’t seemed to even register that Marinette had spoken.  His eyes snapped up to her, full of anguish and desperation.  “Why isn’t she picking up?”

Marinette fiddled with the edge of her shirt.  “Maybe she’s busy,” she suggested.  “Maybe—”

“She needs to pick up.”  His voice broke, and his claws tightened around his baton.  “I need her.  I need to talk to her.  I can’t do this.  Where is she?  Where’s Ladybug?  I don’t know where to find her, Mari, and she’s not picking up and I need her.  I need her.”  He continued to mumble, his voice rising in hysteria as his eyes returned to the screen, calling again.  The call didn’t go through, and he threw the baton across the room, smashing a vase in the process.  “Why isn’t she answering?”

Marinette’s heart broke watching her boyfriend, and she lay a hand on his shoulder.  His eyes flicked back to her, pleading as though she could magically make Ladybug answer the call.  And she could, but it wasn’t like he actually knew that.

She took a deep breath.  Screw it.  He was going to find out in two weeks anyway, and she was scared for her partner.  He needed this.

“She’s not answering because she’s right her,” she said softly.  The pleading in his eyes turned to confusion.  “It’s me.  I’m Ladybug.  I’m right here.”

Chat stared at her for a long moment, before wrapping his arm around her.  He pulled her into his side with a sob, still coherent enough to be mindful of the baby as he buried his face in her neck.

“I’m here,” Marinette whispered again, running her fingers through his hair.  “I’m here, kitty.  I’m not going anywhere.”

She wasn’t sure how long it took for him to get control over his tears, but she held him all the while, whispering comforting words into his ear.  Eventually, he pulled back enough to look at her, but didn’t remove his arm from around her.  Marinette knew his eyes would be red and puffy behind the mask, but, at the moment, his flushed face was the only indication that something was off.

“You’re—you’re really Ladybug?” he asked, his voice hoarse.  “You’re my Lady?”

Marinette nodded.  “I’m your Lady, Chat,” she confirmed.  She cupped his cheek, brushing away a few stray tears with her thumb.  “Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?  Where did you get a baby?”

Chat’s lip trembled, and his gaze fell once again to the sleeping girl.  He didn’t say anything for a long moment, and Marinette rubbed patterns into his shoulder as she waited.

“Her name’s Adeline,” he finally said, not looking up.  “After my mother, Adele.  She’s my niece.  Her dad, Felix, is—was—my brother.”

Marinette drew in a sharp breath, tightening her hold around Chat’s shoulders as the change in tense.  She remembered a few months back, when Chat told her that his brother was having a baby, that he’d get to be godfather.  She remembered how excited he was.

“What happened?”

Chat’s eyes closed, and she watched his throat bob as he swallowed heavily.  “There was a car accident.”  It was a broken whisper, and Marinette stopped breathing again, her eyes widening.  “Felix and Bridgette, they’re—they didn’t—” He broke off, glassy eyes opening and returning to Marinette’s.

“I’m her godfather, Mari,” he whispered, lip trembling.  “I didn’t think it would mean anything.  I was—I was supposed to be the—the cool uncle who buys her presents and lets her eat candy before—before dinner and stay up late.  I didn’t think—I didn’t think I’d have to—”

A sob cut him off that time, one he tried to muffle as the tears started anew, streaming down his face.  Marinette pulled him into her again, pressing his face into her chest and stroking his back.  Sobs wracked his body, and her own tears leaked into his hair, her heart breaking again for him.  She didn’t whisper this time.  She didn’t know what to say to make him stop hurting.  Thinking back to when his father died, just being there would be enough for him.

It was a long while before his sobs subsided.  He loosened his hold on her, and she pressed a kiss against his forehead before he pulled back.

“I don’t know what to do,” he whimpered, eyes back on his niece as he traced patterns against her back.  “I don’t know anything about babies.  I’m going to screw this up, and Adeline’s going to hate me.”

“She won’t hate you,” Marinette insisted, tracing his cheekbone with her thumb in what she hoped was a soothing pattern.  “I’ll help, if you want.”

His gaze was hopeful as his eyes flicked up to hers.  “You will?” he breathed, and Marinette nodded.

“Of course, kitty,” she told him, offering a shaky smile.  “I love you.  It’s going to take a lot more than a baby for me to break up with you.  I mean, I don’t really know anything about babies either, but we can figure this out together.”

Chat stared at her again, before pulling her head into his chest.  “Thank you,” he whispered into her hair.  “Mari, my Lady, thank you.  Thank you so much.  I love you.”

She squeezed him back, and pressed a kiss against his collarbone.  “I love you, too, Chat.”

“Adrien,” he murmured, and Marinette pulled back, gazing up at him.  “That’s my name.  Adrien Agreste.  I’d drop my transformation, but there’s kind of a baby strapped to me.”  He let out a humourless chuckle, and Marinette forced a smile for his sake.  “You met me a couple times as Ladybug, years ago when we first started out, but never as Marinette.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Adrien.”  She pressed a brief kiss to his cheek before pulling away, unwrapping her arms from around him.  “I’m going to find something to use as a bed for Adeline for tonight.  We should try to get some sleep, too.”  Chat—Adrien—nodded, and Marinette retreated into her room.

She pushed away the thoughts about how she was now going to be raising a baby with Chat for the moment.  She could deal with that later, after they got the whole baby situation figured out, and after they dealt with whatever they had to concerning Chat’s cousin.  None of that mattered right now.  What currently mattered was finding a bed for Adeline.

Her eyes caught on the pink basket she used for storing her socks, and it only took a few minutes to line it with fabric and a blanket and turn it into a makeshift cradle.

It wasn’t long before she was burying herself under the covers with a now detransformed Chat Noir, whose eyes were an even lovelier shade of green when they looked human.  They’d redressed Adeline and tucked her in bed, and Marinette made Adrien eat a slice of pizza since he couldn’t remember when he’d eaten last.

Now they were cuddled up together.  It wasn’t the first time she’d spent the night with him, though the others felt far less intimate in comparison.  Before now, it had been late nights when they fell asleep on rooftops or secretly rented hotel rooms as Ladybug and Chat Noir, boyfriend and girlfriend, Power Couple of Paris.  Or they’d been Marinette and Chat Noir, accidentally falling asleep in the living room during movie marathons or Chat sleeping on the couch because a storm had grown too big for him to get home.

But now they were Marinette and Adrien, Ladybug and Chat Noir, her and him, curled up together in her bed.  They were their whole selves, no more secrets.  They knew each other entirely, and they chose each other.  All of each other.

Marinette had never expected Chat Noir to show up at her balcony with a baby and a pink diaper bag, but he did, and she was going to make the most of it.  Because her boyfriend was asleep in her bed, and his name was Adrien Agreste, and he had a baby now.  A baby named Adeline who was asleep in her sock basket and who she was going to help raise.

She was going to make the most of it because she loved him, Chat Noir, Adrien Agreste, her kitty, her boyfriend, _him_ , and now he came with a baby.  A baby that she was going to love just as much as she loved him.  They were going to do this together, and they were going to be as good at raising a baby as they were at fighting supervillains. 

She pressed her face into his chest, holding him tightly as silent tears dripped into her hair, and drifted off to sleep.


	2. You're Stuck With Me

Adrien woke up with a beam of sunshine in his eyes.  It wasn’t the first time he’d woken up since crying himself to sleep in Marinette’s—Ladybug’s—arms the night before.  No, Adeline had proven to be a very demanding child, waking them up every three hours for food.

For a moment, he wasn’t entirely sure where he was.  This wasn’t his empty mansion, where he still lived in his old childhood room, and there were far too many personal touches for it to be a hotel room he’d picked up with Ladybug the night before.

It all came rushing back, and he closed his eyes against the sun, burying his face in his pillow.  Felix.  Bridgette.  The accident.  Adeline.  Marinette.

The silent tears fell for a while, breathless sobs wracking his body far too quietly for anyone to hear.

That was it.  He was alone.  His mother had been missing for the better part of a decade, his father dead from cancer for two years.  Felix was all the family he had, and now he was gone.  He was gone, and so was Bridgette, and Adeline was just as alone as Adrien.

Eventually he ran out of tears and the sobs subsided, and he forced himself out of Marinette’s bed.  He found the ensuite and grimaced at his appearance in the mirror.  His eyes were red and swollen, and his face was splotchy.  There was no way he’d be able to face the paparazzi that was no doubt waiting for him to make an appearance without sunglasses and some serious concealer.

Why was he thinking about concealer when Felix was gone?  He didn’t know, but he felt numb, and his brain refused to even contemplate anything more complex, so concealer it was.  He splashed some cold water on his face and pretended it helped, finishing up his business and pulling on his clothes from yesterday before venturing out of Marinette’s bedroom.

She was on the center cushion of her couch, the leftover pizza from the night before on the table in front of her.  She was dressed in green paw printed pyjama pants and a black tank top, her hair tied up on top of her head.  Adeline was asleep on the cushion beside her, Plagg and something red around his size cuddled up against the baby.

Adrien moved towards the couch, trying his hardest to return the smile Marinette sent him.  He was pretty sure he failed, but she wrapped an arm around him anyway after planting a plate of cold pizza on his lap.

“You okay?” she asked after a moment.  He could feel her eyeing him as he half-heartedly chewed on his pizza, and he shook his head without looking her way.  Her arm tightened around him and she didn’t say anything.  The Pirates of the Caribbean movie they hadn’t gotten around to watching the night before played quietly on the television, filling their silence.

It was Adrien who finally broke it, eyes flitting up to Marinette’s briefly.  “You’re Ladybug?” he asked, voice hoarse and cracking.

She offered him a small smile.  “Yeah, I am.”

He nodded, abandoning his pizza in favour of curling into her side, head resting on her shoulder.  “I’m happy,” he said, because he felt like he needed to point that out.  “I’m happy that it’s you.  I just…” He trailed off with a shrug.

Marinette pressed her lips against the top of his head.  “I know.”

Adrien nodded and they held each other for a while, watching Orlando Bloom fight pirates and rescue Johnny Depp from jail.  At some point, Plagg woke up and nuzzled into his charge’s neck, and Adrien managed to finish a slice of pizza.

A happy sounding gurgle interrupted the quiet, and one of Marinette’s arms released him.

“Looks like somebody finally stopped crying,” she murmured, gently pulling Adeline into her lap.  The baby blew a spit bubble up at her, hands fisting in the air.  “How old is she, Chat?  Sorry.  I meant Adrien.  I’m still getting used to knowing your real name.”

“Chat’s fine.”  Not moving his cheek from Marinette’s shoulder, he held out a finger.  Adeline grabbed it in her fist, gurgling again.  “She’s just over two months.  She was born on Christmas.”

“Right.”  Marinette’s hand rubbed his arm.  “You thought I’d be mad at you for missing our meet up for being at the hospital.”

Adrien nodded against her, watching Adeline drag his finger down into her mouth.  “You don’t have to do this, my Lady,” he whispered.  “I’m not going to force you to stay with me now that I have Adeline.  I can leave right now and you’ll never have to see me outside akuma atta—”

“Stop it.”  Marinette’s voice was firm, and Adrien pulled himself away to look up at her, his finger still trapped in Adeline’s.  His girlfriend’s eyes bore into his, filled with such intensity and love that he couldn’t look away.  “I love you, Cha—Adrien.  I’ve been in love with you for years.  The fact that you come with a baby now doesn’t change that.  I like babies.  I want to have my own, someday, and this just means we’re starting early.  But I’m not leaving you, chaton.  I’m never going to leave you, unless you want me to.  Otherwise, you’re stuck with me.  Okay?”

He stared at her for a long moment before pulling away, easing his finger from Adeline’s grip.  He cupped Marinette’s cheeks, pressing his lips to hers.  He pulled back after a minute, eyes squeezed tightly as he leaned his forehead against hers.

“I love you,” he whispered.  “I love you so much.”

“I love you, too,” she whispered back.

Their moment was interrupted by an incessant ringing, and Adrien pulled away, scrunching up his eyebrows as he pulled his phone out of his back pocket.

“I thought you said you lost that,” Marinette pointed out, sitting Adeline up and bouncing her on her lap.

“I thought I did, too.”  How out of it must he have been yesterday?  He’d searched for his phone for hours.

He looked down at the screen and sighed.  It was Nathalie.  Of course it was Nathalie.  He really didn’t want to deal with this right now.  Or ever.  Never would be good, honestly.  But that probably wasn’t an option.

Marinette noticed Adrien’s face fall and stopped the baby’s bouncing.  “Are you okay?” she asked.  “Who is it?”

“Nathalie,” he mumbled, watching the call go to voicemail.  “She’s—I don’t really know what she is.  She used to be my father’s assistant, and our tutor, and now I think she’s mostly our lawyer.”  The ringtone went off once more as Nathalie called again.  “I really don’t want to deal with this.”

Marinette nodded, planting Adeline in Adrien’s lap.  He dropped the phone as his hands moved to carefully wrap around the baby. 

“I’ll talk to her,” she decided.  “If you want.”

Adrien managed a small nod and Marinette picked up the phone as it started to ring for the third time, standing up and wandering into the kitchen.

_“Adrien, where have you been?  I’ve been trying to reach you all night.  The staff say you never came home, and I’m worried.  Where’s Adeline?  Are you—”_

“He’s fine, Mme. Sancoeur,” Marinette said quietly, remembering the surname she’d read before answering.  “He was freaking out, so he brought Adeline here.”

The line was quiet for a moment.  _“Who is this?  Where’s Adrien?”_

“I’m Marinette.”  She stared at the teapot, wondering if Adrien would like some tea.  “Ch-Adrien’s girlfriend.”

_“So the mysterious girlfriend finally has a name.”_   Marinette’s eyebrows drew together.  How much did this Nathalie know about Adrien’s life?  Hadn’t he said she was a tutor and a lawyer and an assistant?  What exactly did he tell her?  _“But why isn’t Adrien speaking for himself?”_

Marinette sighed, moving the kettle under the tap and turning on the water.  “He’s not exactly feeling up to talking on the phone, as I’m sure you can imagine,” she pointed out, staring at the back of his head.  “But I can pass on whatever message you have.”

_“My apologies.  I understand.”_   The kettle full, Marinette moved it back onto its stand, flipping the switch to start boiling the water.  _“That is, however, the topic I need to discuss are Felix and Bridgette’s wills.”_

Marinette closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.  Right.  That was a thing that happened.  She really didn’t think Adrien was ready to deal with that, though.

_“They’ve left the majority of their possessions to Adrien,”_ Nathalie was saying, oblivious to Marinette’s distress.  _“There are some things that will go to their friends, but, as Adrien was the only family either had, and the fact that he’s taken in their daughter, most of it, including their house, is his.  We can discuss that later, though, when Adrien is up to it.”_

Marinette nodded, despite knowing that the woman couldn’t see her.  That would make things easier, for today at least.

_“I would like to discuss Adeline.”_

“She’s doing fine,” Marinette interjected.  “It took her a while to stop crying, but she’s been eating and seems happy now.  She’s—”

_“As great as that is to hear, that’s not what I meant.”_   Marinette felt herself flush at Nathalie’s reprimanding tone, and busied herself with filling the teapot when the kettle clicked off.  _“As Adrien has never discussed any children with me, I feel it’s safe to assume that your home is not currently appropriate for a baby, and I know for a fact that Adrien’s mansion is not either.”_

Mansion?  Chat Noir lived in a mansion?  Marinette glanced back at her boyfriend, his messy hair all she could see over the back of the couch.  Somehow, it didn’t surprise her.  She did vaguely remember stopping a few akumas when they were younger that were after Gabriel Agreste—who she was now piecing together to be Chat’s—Adrien’s—dad.  Wow, she really needed a couple hours to just think about this.

“You’re right about that,” she said, pushing off the thoughts of what she still needed to learn about her boyfriend.  “The only baby things we have here was what Adrien brought in that diaper bag, and we’re almost out of formula.”

_“I thought as much,”_ Nathalie agreed.  _“Would Adrien—and you, I suppose—be able to meet me at Felix and Bridgette’s at ten?  I’ll have a crew come and you can pick up what baby supplies you need.”_

Marinette looked at the clock.  It was quarter to nine.  “Just give me a minute to talk to him,” she decided, and Nathalie voiced her agreement to wait.

She poured two cups of tea, mixing Adrien’s with extra sugar the way she knew he liked it but had never been allowed growing up, and returned to the couch.  She set the mugs down on the coffee table, as well as the phone, and offered her boyfriend a smile.  Adeline had fallen asleep again, curled into Adrien’s chest, one hand fisted in his shirt.  His thumb rubbed her cheek and he had tears in his eyes again.

Marinette sighed, leaning into his side.  “Would you be okay going to your brother’s house in an hour?”  She felt him stiffen and rushed to continue.  “You don’t have to.  I can go on my own.  But we do need baby supplies.  If you don’t want anything from there, we can go to a store or something.  Or I can.  But we don’t have enough formula to last the rest of the day, and the diapers are going to run out soon, too, and she only has two outfits.  We—”

“Yeah.”  His voice was so soft that she could hardly hear it.  “We can—we can go there.  I can do it.  For Adeline.”

Marinette reached up to cup his hand where he held the baby and ran her fingers over his in what she hopped was a soothing motion.  “You’re sure?”

She felt his head drop onto hers, felt him nod, and picked up the phone to let Nathalie know they’d be there.

*********

The other Agreste Mansion—the newer one that Chat had complained to Ladybug about his brother having built when he’d gotten married because “I could get an apartment.  Père left the house to both of us, and I really don’t need that much space”—rivaled the size of the original, where Adrien was still living.  The size was really the only thing it had in common with the place they’d grown up in.  Felix and Bridgette’s house was softer, made from wood rather than marble, and it actually felt warm and lived in, like a home.

Honestly, Adrien didn’t blame Felix for wanting to build his own house.  He still hated living in the mansion.  The only reason he was still there himself was because he couldn’t be bothered to find another place, and he’d hoped to be moving in with Ladybug soon.

The point was, Felix’s house always felt more like a home.  But now, standing outside his dead brother’s house with his niece in his arms and his girlfriend by his side, it felt wrong.  The house looked too big, staring them down into the road.  It seemed too empty, too devoid of the life that had always been inside, and Adrien couldn’t breathe.  His vision was blurring and his chest was tightening and he couldn’t breathe and—

And suddenly it felt like a weight was being lifted off of him.  It didn’t help him in the slightest, but there was a noticeable weight gone.

And then all he could see was blue.  All he could hear was the cadences of Marinette’s voice, though his ears were ringing too much for him to make out the actual words she was saying.  He tried to focus on her, to control his breathing, and it worked.  His vision and hearing returned to normal, and all that was left were the tears running down his cheeks.

He closed his eyes, pressing his forehead against Marinette’s and breathing deeply.

“It’s okay,” she whispered, a hand stroking his cheek.  “You’re okay, kitty.”

He nodded, pulling back and noticing that Adeline was now in her arms.  Which made sense.  Maybe he shouldn’t really be trusted with holding the baby at the moment.

“You sure you’re good to do this?”

Adrien took in a deep breath and let it out again, steadying himself.  “Yeah,” he said, repeating it in his head.  He could do this.  He could go into Felix’s house and everything would be okay.  He was just going over to borrow some stuff for taking care of Adeline while they were out of town.  Everything was okay.

Marinette offered him a small smile, and her hands moved down to take his, guiding him across the street.

Nathalie met them at the gate, her hair pulled back in a severe bun and her pantsuit impeccable.  She looked far more put together than Adrien, Marinette, and Adeline combined, in their combination of yesterday’s clothes and baggy eyes, the first thing she pulled out of the closet and a messy ponytail, and a wrinkled onesie, respectively.  It was nice, somehow, that Nathalie could still look like herself when his world was falling apart.

The folder she held was tucked under her arm as they approached, her glasses adjusted on her nose.

“Good morning, Adrien,” she said, the same way she always said it, even back when she was his tutor.  “I’m sorry to hear about Felix and Bridgette.”

Adrien nodded but didn’t say anything, staring down at the cracks in the sidewalk.

“Marinette, I presume?” Nathalie continued, looking at Marinette.  “It’s good to finally meet you.”  Her hand rose to shake Marinette’s, then dropped almost awkwardly back to her side after registering that both the other woman’s were filled.

“You as well,” Marinette said with a forced smile.  At any other time, Adrien would have laughed at her forced formal tone, but not today.

Nathalie nodded, bringing her folder back up.  “Right.  We’ve got a couple of things to sort out here.”  She paused, as if waiting for Adrien to tell her to go on.  When that clearly wasn’t going to happen, she cleared her throat.  “First is the option of where you’re going to live.  Felix and Bridgette left you their home—”

“No.”

Both Nathalie and Marientte’s eyes snapped to Adrien, who still hadn’t looked up from the ground, his hand tightening around Marinette’s.

“I can’t—we can’t live here,” he continued, eyes squeezing shut to keep in the tears that wouldn’t stop rising.  “I just—it’s not _right_.  It wouldn’t feel right.  I couldn’t—”

He broke off then, pressing his face into Marinette’s shoulder.  His girlfriend released his hand to wrap her arm around him.  Nathalie only nodded.

“I assumed as much,” she said and Marinette silently cursed her.  If she’d assumed his answer would be no, why would she even bring it up?  “I’ve hired a moving truck to come bring whatever you need for now back with you.  Should I tell them to take it to the mansion?”

Adrien pulled his face back, one hand rubbing at his eyes.  “I guess.  That’d be the only other—”

“Tell them to take it to my place,” Marinette interrupted, and Adrien turned to look at her, his eyes red and puffy.  She smiled shyly at him.  “You hate your house, minou.  My place is big enough for all of us.  You don’t have to go back there.”

Adrien’s eyes did spill over then, and he wrapped Marinette in his arms.  He whispered his thanks with his face pressed into her neck, and she stroked his back.

They stood there for just long enough for Marinette to tell Nathalie her address, just long enough for Adrien to rain in his tears and extract himself from his girlfriend.

And then they were heading inside, his hand gripping hers tightly as they walked up the front steps of his brother’s home.

It felt wrong.  It felt stale and empty and _wrong_ , and all Adrien wanted to do was get out.  But he couldn’t.  Not yet.  He had to do this for Adeline, so she wouldn’t have to sleep in a sock basket and wear the same two outfits.  He had to do this.

He didn’t say anything as they wandered through the rooms, only occasionally nodding along to whatever Marinette and Nathalie were saying as Nathalie stuck things with pieces of red tape for when the movers arrived.  Their words passed through his ears without registering, and he had no idea what they’d chosen to bring as his eyes stayed trained on the floor.

And it would have been fine.  He would have made it back out without breaking down if Nathalie hadn’t pushed open the door to Felix and Bridgette’s room.

He froze in the doorway, his breaths coming in faster.  The bed was unmade, sheets pushed back, and dirty clothes were scattered across the floor.  It was as if they’d just walked out, like they’d be back any minute.

It was like they were alive.

Marinette was suddenly all he could see, her mouth moving in words he couldn’t hear.  But he couldn’t be there anymore.

So he ran.

Marinette called his name, panicked eyes flicking between her boyfriend’s fleeing back and the still-sleeping baby in her arms.  She turned to Nathalie, passing Adeline over before taking off.

She caught up to him in the front yard.  He was hunched over, hands on his knees as he choked on sobs.

“Chat,” she called quietly, and he turned, all but launching himself into her arms.  She rubbed his back as he clung to her, his face buried in her shoulder.  “I got you, kitty.  I’m here.  You’re okay.”

*********

They’d opted to go home after that.  Nathalie had stayed to wait for the movers, and they’d arrived and unpacked Adeline’s things.  Like Marinette had said, there was more than enough room.

She’d moved out of her parents’ bakery a little over a year ago, when she’d found her apartment.  It was definitely bigger than she’d needed, with two bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms, and a large open concept kitchen-living room area.  It was gorgeous, though slightly out of her price range.  But that was okay.  She’d converted the extra bedroom into a sewing room, and she took in more commissions to make up the extra money.

There wasn’t a need, really, for the large apartment.  But she’d rented it with Chat’s hatred of his own home in mind, and had been hoping even then that she’d find out Chat’s identity, and he hers, and then maybe it wouldn’t feel as big.

Marinette stared at all the baby things that currently filled her living room, hands on her hips.  That was her self-assigned task for the night, turning the sewing room back into a bedroom.  Adeline was asleep in the sock basket again, and Adrien had gone out with his friend for the evening, so she pulled her hair up into a ponytail and called up Alya on speakerphone and set to work.

_“Hey, girl!  I tried calling you earlier, but you didn’t answer.  Everything okay?”_

“Everything’s fine.”  Marinette carried her phone with her into the spare bedroom and laid it down on the desk.  There really wasn’t much in there, honestly.  Just some designs pinned on the walls, her sewing machine, a mannequin wearing a half-finished bridesmaid dress, and a bunch of fabric.  “I’ve just been busy.”

_“Ooo.  Been hanging out with the mysterious boyfriend all day?”_

“Yeah.”  Technically you could call going to his dead brother’s house to collect baby supplies “hanging out”.  “I actually wanted to talk to you about him.”

Alya was silent for a minute, and Marinette set about organizing her fabrics back into the boxes she’d gotten herself in hopes of organization.

_“Wait,”_ her friend finally said, and Marinette could hear the excitement in her voice.  _“Does this mean we finally get to meet him?”_

“Soon, I think.”  What was her organization supposed to look like?  We these boxes organized by colour?  Fabric type?  Honestly, whatever her intent had been had been long since lost, as the boxes were full of jumbles of random fabrics.  “It might still be a little bit, though.  He’s kind of going through a rough time.”

_“What happened?”_  Some sort of squawk came from the living room, and Marinette got up to investigate, carrying her phone with her.

“His brother and sister-in-law died yesterday.”  Adeline was awake in her basket, so Marinette picked her up, hugging her against her chest.  “That, and there’s a few…” She trailed off, looking down at the baby in her arms.  “…complications that came with that.”

_“Oh, Mari.  That’s awful.  Is he okay?”_

“He’s as good as he can be, I guess.”  She plucked up the basket and made her way back to the spare bedroom.  “He’s out with a friend right now.”

_“This is just weird, though.  Not that I’m trying to take away from what your boyfriend’s going through, but this is weirdly coincidental.”_

Marinette scrunched up her eyebrows, putting the phone back down on the desk.  “What do you mean?”  She tucked Adeline back into the basket, the baby happily cooing away.  Tikki flew out from wherever she’d been napping and curled up to her, allowing Adeline to grab her arms in her fists.  Marinette smiled gratefully at the kwami.

_“Nino’s out with his friend right now—you know, the one who’s gonna be his best man and that’s been too busy to ever actually meet us—cause his sister died?  I think.  It might have been his brother and sister?  I’m not entirely sure, cause Nino just kind of yelled it at me as he ran out the door.  But someone died.  I did catch that part.”_

“Oh god, that’s horrible.  Does he have someone with him?”  Marinette felt for Nino’s friend.  She knew what Adrien was going through, and could only imagine how much worse it would be if Alya was right and he’d lost both his brother and sister.

_“Well, he’s got Nino at the moment, but, like I said, all I know is what Nino yelled as he was leaving.  I texted him, though, to stay with him if he needed it.  Or to bring him here.”_

“That’s smart,” Marinette said, staring at her fabrics again.  She shook her head, deciding to just shove them back into the boxes and organize them later.  Neither she nor Alya said anything for a few moments, and Marinette started on clearing out the room.

_“You said you wanted to talk to me about your man,”_ Alya finally said.  _“Was that it?”_

“Not exactly.” Marinette sighed, gripping the edge of the desk and dragging it towards the door.  “How much changed when you and Nino moved in together?”

Alya was silent for a moment.  _“Mari.  Babe.  Girl.  Are you telling me you’re planning to move in with mystery man?”_

Marinette frowned at the desk.  Apparently it was too big to fit through the door.  This could be a problem.  How had she gotten it in in the first place?

“He’s already moved in.”  Technically Adrien moving in wasn’t the biggest change in their relationship.  She’d have to give that to knowing who each other actually were.  But it wasn’t like she could tell Alya that.

_“Girl, I trust your judgment and everything, but are you sure this is the best idea right after he lost his brother?”_

“He was going to move in after our anniversary anyway,” Marinette pointed out.  Though technically not something they’d discussed, Marinette wouldn’t have let Chat live somewhere he’d hated any longer when she had more than enough room for him, and she didn’t doubt that he would have agreed.  She ignored Alya’s incredulous cries as to why she was only learning this information now, and continued.  “He didn’t want to be alone, Al.  So I figured what difference does two weeks make?  And it makes things easier, anyway.”

_“I guess as long as you thought this through, the timing doesn’t really matter,”_ Alya allowed.  _“But what things does it make easier?”_

Marinette glanced down in the basket, where a now sleeping Adeline was wrapped around Tikki.  “Don’t freak out.”

_“Marinette, why would I freak out?”_

She didn’t answer her friend.  “It’s the complication,” she said instead.  “His brother and sister-in-law, they had a baby.”  A sharp intake of breath came from Alya’s end of the phone.  “He’s the godfather.”

_“So that means…”_ Alya trailed off, and Marinette sunk to the floor, covering her face in her hands.  _“Marinette, your boyfriend has a baby now?”_

“Which means I have a baby now,” Marinette confirmed.  She squeezed her eyes shut, the reality of what she’d agreed to finally having a chance to sink in.  “I told him I’d be there for him, that I’d help raise her and stuff, but I don’t know anything about babies.  Neither of us do.  I’m honestly surprised she’s still alive.”

_“Oh, Marinette.”_

“I’m not going to back out,” Marinette told her friend before Alya could argue.  Not that she thought Alya would argue, but she wanted to make her point clear.  “I promised I’d help, and I’m not going to break that promise.  But oh my god, Alya.  This is—this is crazy, right?  I’m responsible for a baby.  I don’t know anything about babies.  I had to Google how to make a bottle last night, Alya.  And he doesn’t know any more than me.  When he showed up her, her diaper was duct taped shut.  And—”

_“Breathe, Mari,”_ Alya interrupted, and Marinette listened to her friend, taking in a deep shaking breath.  _“You’re gonna be fine, okay?  The fact that you’re worried is what’s gonna make you great.  I know you don’t know what to do right now, but you’re gonna learn, and you’re gonna get better.  Okay?”_

Marinette breathed out a sigh.  “Okay.”

_“Do you want me to come over?”_

She thought about it for a moment.  “No.  He’ll be back soon, and I don’t want to overwhelm him with you yet.”

_“Alright, sweetie.”_   They fell into silence again, Marinette watching the way Adeline and Tikki’s sleeping bodies curled against each other.  She let out a half-hysterical laugh.

“Alya, what the hell do I do with a baby?”

Alya snorted across the line.  _“What makes you think I’d know?”_

“You have little sisters.”  Marinette shrugged, knowing she couldn’t see it.

_“Marinette.”_   Alya’s voice was serious and slightly reprimanding.   _“You do realize my sisters are fifteen, right?  It’s been a while since I’ve had to deal with babies.”_

Her friend let out a groan.  “I know.”

Alya sighed.  _“I guess I can try to help.  How old is this baby?”_

*********

Adrien stared at the ground, watching his boots crunch against the frost.  He’d been hanging out with Nino for a few hours now.  They’d eaten dinner—or Nino had eaten dinner and Adrien had pushed his salad around his plate—and had taken to wandering aimlessly around Paris.  Aside from the initial apologies and condolences, Nino hadn’t mentioned Felix at all.

Which meant he was going to at any minute.  Adrien just wished he’d get it over with so he could stop having to wait for it.

They stopped at a park, the one near where Marinette used to live, and Nino lead him to a bench.  Adrien sat, leaning forward with his head in his hands, and stared blankly ahead, watching his breaths come out in puffs of fog.

“Are you okay?” Nino finally asked after they’d sat there in silence for a while.

“No.” Adrien squeezed his eyes shut.  “Obviously I’m not okay.  Felix—he was the last family I had.  And now with everything, with Adeline—” He broke off, willing the tears to stay in.  He’d already cried too much today.  If his father was around to see how much his emotions were getting the better of him, he’d have thrown a fit.

“Shit, man,” Nino muttered, scooting closer to wrap an arm around his friend’s shoulders.  “I completely forgot.  You’re her godfather, aren’t you?”  Adrien nodded, and Nino’s arm tightened around him.  “So you’ve got a baby now.  How’s that going?”

Adrien was quiet for a few moments, reining the tears back in.  “I almost had a panic attack,” he admitted.  “I was freaking out so bad and just couldn’t be alone.  So I went to my Lady’s place.”  He didn’t mention that he hadn’t meant to go to her place, that it was just a coincidence that she and Marinette had ended up being the same person, or that he’d done so in a leather cat suit and almost dropped his niece off a roof more than once.  “I’m moving in with her.  I need to grab some things from the mansion on the way back.  Mari, she’s been amazing.  I don’t think either of us knows anything about babies, but she wants to help.  She’s not going to leave me.”

The tears broke free then, and Nino pulled his friend against him, rubbing his back as Adrien sobbed into his shoulder.  He couldn’t believe that Adrien’s father had messed him up so much that he was surprised that his long term girlfriend wasn’t going to leave him when things got a little rough.  He needed to introduce him to Alya and Marinette soon.  The guy needed more positivity in his life.

It took a few minutes, but eventually Adrien calmed down, pulling away and swiping at his eyes.  “Sorry.”

“Dude, how many times have I told you that you don’t have to apologize for having feelings?” Adrien didn’t respond, but Nino could tell he was fighting the urge to apologize again.  Nino hated Gabriel Agreste with a burning passion for the way he twisted Adrien’s mind, for making him think everyone was going to leave him, for making him feel wrong for having emotions.  He’d always wondered if Felix had ended up the same way, but it’d never felt right to ask.

“Do you want to do anything else?” he asked, changing the subject. “You can stay at our place if you need to.  Alya won’t mind.”

Adrien shook his head.  “It’s getting late,” he pointed out.  “I should get back soon.  Mari’s had Adeline all evening, and that’s not really fair.”

“Alright, man.”  Nino grinned, bumping his shoulder against Adrien’s.  “But Mari, huh?  It only took years but I’ve finally got a name for your girlfriend.  Does this mean I actually get to meet her soon?”

“I think so, yeah.”  Adrien managed a small smile.  Marinette and Nino would get along great.  He’d always thought that, and now that there was no secret identities to hide behind, he could finally introduce two of his favourite people.

“You should bring her to lunch on Saturday,” Nino suggested as they stood, walking out of the park.  “She can meet Alya and the maid of honour at the same time.”

Adrien’s smile grew.  “I’ll see if she can make it."


	3. Babies Can't Fight Akumas

Friday morning dawned bright and early for Marinette.  It had been two days since she learned Chat Noir’s identity, since he’d moved into her home with the addition of a baby.  They’d spent the day before together, finishing setting up Adeline’s room and just generally trying to distract Adrien.  They’d played video games and baked cookies, and discovered that Tikki and Plagg were extremely interested in babies, despite Plagg’s denials on the matter.

So Adrien had decided the night before that Marinette should head back to work.  He would be fine on his own, and Plagg seemed to know an awful lot about babies, so he should be able to handle Adeline for the day.

It was going fine.  Adeline was lying on the living room floor under some sort of weird mobile toy that they’d found in Felix’s house, and she was batting at the plush cats and ladybugs hanging from it with occasional bursts of laughter.  Plagg was attempting to take a nap on her stomach, grumbling every time her little hands grabbed at him, but Adrien was sure that was just for show, as he never actually took initiative to just find somewhere else to nap.  Adrien was eating lunch on the floor beside them, half watching a romantic comedy he’d found on TV.

The morning was going pretty well.  Clearly he and Plagg were capable of looking after Adeline.

Until the rom-com stopped for the emergency akuma broadcast.

Adrien jumped to his feet, half eaten sandwich in hand.  “Plagg, Claws—” A particularly loud giggle interrupted his command, and he looked down at Adeline.  His stance deflated and he frowned.  “Plagg, how am I supposed to fight an akuma with a baby?”

Plagg just shrugged, gently pulling his tail from her mouth.  “The same way you always fight akumas.” 

“But, Plagg, what about Adeline?” Adrien insisted, violently waving his sandwich to make his point.  “Babies can’t fight akumas.”

His kwami rolled his eyes.  He had to deal with this with most chosens at some point, and it had gotten old centuries ago.  “Just pick her up and transform and I’ll take care of it.”

Adrien eyed his kwami warily, but picked Adeline up off the ground.  “Plagg, Claws Out!”

*********

Fighting an akuma alone wasn’t ever that fun of a thing to do, but Ladybug was just going to have to do it.  She didn’t think through what would happen with Adeline during the next attack, and she doubted Adrien had, so she figured Chat Noir would just be taking the day off.

From what Ladybug had gathered, the akuma was a paleontologist who’d been fired earlier in the day.  Now he was Neanderbrawl, a primitive looking human wearing animal skins and carrying a club.  The only thing that could possibly be the akumatized item on him was the tooth necklace around his neck.

All in all, it wasn’t looking to be too bad for a one-on-one fight.  The only power that Neanderbrawl really seemed to have was the zapping ray that came out of his club and turned whoever it hit into cave people, and, while they acted less civilized, they didn’t really seem to be minions.

“Bug!” Neanderbrawl bellowed, smashing his club against the ground.  “Me need Miraculous!”

Ladybug rolled her eyes.  “Not today, Bamm-Bamm!” she called back, readying herself as the akuma charged.  She easy dodged him, sending him crashing through a wall.

“Wow, my Lady.  You just Tyrannosaurus-wrecked that akuma.”

Ladybug let a grin spread on her face.  “I didn’t think you’d make—” Ladybug froze in her spin to face her partner, eyebrows raising in disbelief.  “Please tell me I’m hallucinating.”

Chat had the audacity to look confused. “What?”

Ladybug stared pointedly at his chest, where a green leather baby sling seemed to merge with his suit.  Nestled inside and squawking happily was Adeline, clothed in her own leather suit, complete with cat ears and whiskers that seemed to be painted on her face.  She was, admittedly, absolutely adorable, and somehow made Chat look even hotter, but Ladybug was going to ignore that for now.

“Chat Noir, this had better be a hallucination,” she said again, her voice low, “because I swear if you actually came to this fight wearing a baby sling—”

“But it’s part of the suit!” he interrupted, grin wider than she’d seen it since Tuesday night.  “Plagg says it’ll protect her and that chosens have done this before and—”

“I don’t care what Plagg says!” Ladybug hissed, mindless to the dozens of civilians gathered around with phones out.  “You are not fighting an akuma with a baby strapped to your chest.”

Adeline let out a bright giggle, mittened hands grabbing at her own bell.  Chat sent Ladybug a smirk, gesturing at his chest as if Adeline herself was proof of his next point.

“But she likes it!”

“I don’t care!” Ladybug knew she was yelling now, but what the hell was he thinking bringing a baby into an akuma battle?  “I’m not letting you fight with her here.”

Chats hands went to his hips, Adeline blowing a spit bubble as if in protest of Ladybug’s words.  “I’m not letting you fight alone.”

Ladybug glanced over Chat’s shoulder to where the akuma seemed to be deep in conversation with Hawkmoth.  “Fine,” she sighed.  “You remember where my parents live, right?”

*********

“What do you think he’s doing?”

Sabine sighed, piling another macaron into the display case.  “I’m sure it’s none of our business, Manon.”

“But he’s been pacing outside for _at least_ five minutes,” the girl argued, leaning forward onto the counter.  “And why does he have a baby?”

“A lot of people have babies,” Sabine pointed out.  “That counter won’t clean itself.”

Manon sighed, picking her cloth back up.  “But he should either come in or go pace somewhere else,” she decided.  “Have you seen how many customers have looked at him and not come in?  He’s making us lose business.”

Sabine sent their employee a tired look, and Manon raised her hands in innocence for a moment before returning to wiping down the counter.  Manon did have a point, though.  The only customer actually in the store was an elderly lady meandering in the corner.

“He is hot, though,” the teenager pointed out.  “You know, for a crazy baby guy.”  Her eyes tracked the guy as he made another trek past the windows.  “You should set him up with Marinette.”

Sabine just rolled her eyes, moving onto the next display case.  “Marinette already has a boyfriend.”

“So she says.”  Manon tossed the cloth onto the counter, wiping her hands dry on her apron.  “But has anyone actually met the guy?  He seems pretty made up to me.”

“If Marinette says she has a boyfriend, I’m willing to believe her,” Sabine said decisively.

Manon raised an eyebrow, lounging against the counter once more.  “Even though they’ve supposedly been dating for, like, five years and she hasn’t even brought him to meet her parents?”  She shrugged.  “Sounds fake, but okay.”

Sabine was going to rebut, though she knew that arguments with Manon just went in circles and didn’t get anyone anywhere, but the girl squealed before she could.

“He’s coming in!” she hissed, turning to try to not look like she’d been watching him and settled for leaning in an exaggeratedly casual position against the counter.  Sabine rolled her eyes, and greeted the man as he came inside.

He looked frazzled, with no shoes on his feet and blond hair wild from the way he’d been running his free hand through it as he paced.  The baby he held had one hand clutching his shirt, the other shoved in its mouth.  He darted a quick look around the bakery before his eyes caught on Sabine and he made his way up to her.

“Are you Mme. Dupain-Cheng?” he asked, and Sabine noticed Manon’s eyebrows raise over his shoulder.

“Yes, that’s me,” she said, deciding to ignore her employee.  “What can I do for—?”

Her question was cut off as the baby was shoved into her arms.  She cupped it instinctively, frowning in confusion at the man.

“This is Adeline.” His words were fast, blurring together, and he ran a hand through his hair.  “She ate, like, an hour ago, and she’s kind of your granddaughter?  Sort of?  I’ll explain later bye!”

And with that, he tore out of bakery, the bell ringing in his wake.  Sabine and Manon stared at the door in shock for a long moment, before Manon let out a loud guffaw, collapsing against the counter in peals of laughter.

“Oh my god,” she wheezed, Sabine staring in confusion down at the baby in her arms.  “What the hell even was that?”

The elderly lady came up to the counter with her choices, and had clearly overheard the conversation.  Manon stood up, still shaking with her giggles, and the lady handed her the pastries to be rung up before turning to Sabine.

“Who was that boy?” she asked.

Sabine shook her head.  “I’m assuming that was Marinette’s boyfriend.”  Manon snorted but for once chose not to comment as she rang up the lady’s order.

The lady paid and left, and Manon leaned back against the counter.

“Who do you think he was?” she wondered aloud.  “He kinda looked like Chat Noir.”

“Manon, don’t be ridiculous,” Sabine chastised, lips twitching into a smile as the baby blew a spit bubble up at her.  “Why would Chat Noir hand me a baby and tell me it’s my granddaughter?”

“Hey.” Manon raised her hands in an innocent gesture, shaking as she held back her laughter. “I don’t know what Marinette does.  Or who.  It could be superheroes for all I know.”

Sabine frowned at her, adjusting her hold on the baby.  “Manon.”

Manon’s mouth opened to say god knows what else but she closed it once more with a smirk as Tom emerged from the backroom behind her with another tray of cookies.

“I’ve got more chocolate—” He broke off, eyes narrowing as he looked at his wife.  “Whose baby is that?”

“Apparently she’s our granddaughter?” Sabine shrugged, confusion still marring her face.

“Granddaughter?” Tom blinked, glancing briefly at Manon as she collapsed to the floor in laughter.  “When did Marinette have a baby?”

*********

Ladybug spun her yo-yo, blocking a zap from Neanderbrawl’s club.  Where was Chat?  They were pretty close to the bakery, so it shouldn’t have taken him too long to drop off Adeline.  Neanderbrawl ripped up a garbage can from the sidewalk, chucking it at her, and she rolled out of the way.  But, knowing her parents, it was entirely possible that they’d forced Adrien to stay for snacks.  Maybe she should have warned him.

“Me want Miraculous!” Neanderbrawl bellowed, ripping up a streetlight.

“Why are you Flintstalling, then?  I cat think of any reason that could fossil-ly be good enough.”

Ladybug rolled her eyes, glancing over her shoulder to see that, yes, Chat had managed to show up without Adeline this time, the sling having disappeared.

“Took you long enough,” she called.  “Did my parents give you a hard time?”

“Nah.”  Chat shook his head.  “I was trying to think of a good excuse, but I think I just ended up confusing them.”

Ladybug grabbed his arm swinging them into the air to avoid the streetlight being thrown at them.  They touched back down and she shot him an unimpressed look.

“Please tell me you didn’t go in there as Chat Noir,” she deadpanned.

“Me-ouch, Bugaboo.”  Chat raised a hand to his chest, putting on the most offended air he could muster.  “Give a guy a little credit.  I’m just purr-tty sure that what I said was confusing as heck and then I just kind of ran.”

Ladybug snorted.  “You didn’t even give an excuse?  You just handed Ad—the baby to my parents and ran?” she clarified.

“Pretty much.” Chat shrugged.

“We’re going to have a lot of explaining to do.”  Ladybug sighed and rolled her eyes.  “What do you say we get this over with and send this akuma to extinction?”

Chat smirked at her, pulling his baton from his belt and readying to jump back into the fight.  “Let's yabba-dabba-do this, my Lady.”

*********

It took a little over two hours to defeat Neanderbrawl, and both their Miraculouses timed out less than a minute later, leaving Marinette and Adrien a good ways away from the bakery.  With Tikki and Plagg tucked away, the started quickly walking towards Marinette’s childhood home.

“I still can’t believe he was, like, ninety,” Adrien said.  “Dude was shredded as a caveman.”

Marinette laughed, leaning against him.  “I don’t think we’ve seen a change that drastic before,” she agreed, smiling as his arm wrapped around her.

“Maybe he really was a Neanderthal,” he continued.  “Last of his kind.  Ready to take over the world.”

She snorted but didn’t comment, and they walked in silence for a bit until Marinette glanced down, bursting into laughter.

“Why aren’t you wearing shoes?  Or a coat for that matter?  Aren’t you freezing?”

Adrien pouted.  “To be fair, I thought I’d be back in the apartment when I transformed back,” he pointed out.  “I wasn’t expecting to have to go meet your parents.”  He groaned, arm tightening around her.  “They probably think I’m crazy.”

“Nah.” Marinette smirked up at him.  “You’re just some random guy who ran into the bakery with no shoes, handed them a baby and ran out again.  Totally not crazy.  What did you even say to them?”

“I don’t even remember.”  Adrien steered them around a stray cat sitting in the sidewalk.  “It’s all a blur, honestly.”

Plagg’s head emerged from Adrien’s collar.  “He handed her to your mom and told her and that she was their granddaughter and then ran.”

He disappeared again, snickering, and Adrien groaned, free hand rising to press against his forehead as Marinette giggled.

“I honestly don’t think I could have made a worse first impression,” he whined.  “God, Mari.  They’re never going to let you date me.”

“Okay, for one, I’m a grown woman, Adrien.  I don’t need my parents’ permission to date you.”  Marinette rolled her eyes, wrapping her arms around Adrien’s waist.  “And two, it was definitely a bad first impression.”  Adrien groaned again, and Marinette squeezed him tighter.  “But think of it this way.  Their opinion of you can only go up from ‘crazy shoeless guy who handed us a baby and ran away’.  Everything you do from now on will just make them like you more.”

Adrien grumbled but didn’t say anything, and they turned a corner getting closer to the bakery.

“What made you decide show up to the fight with a baby strapped to you?” Marinette wondered for the millionth time since Chat Noir had arrived at the akuma battle.

Adrien shrugged.  “Plagg thought it would be a good idea.”

Marinette gave him a deadpanned look.  “You realize this is the same Plagg who thought it would be a good idea to eat your couch last year?” she reminded him.

“Hey!” Plagg re-emerged from Adrien’s shirt, scowling at Marinette.  “That was a good idea, thank you very much.  Adrien had dropped pizza on it, and eating the couch meant I got the pizza.”

Marinette was not impressed by this additional information.  “You got so sick you couldn’t transform him for a week,” she pointed out.  “Couldn’t you have just…licked it off or something?”

“Marinette!” Plagg gasped exaggeratedly, paw to his chest.  “I am _not_ a housecat!  I feel betrayed!”

“The baby thing was a good idea though.”  Tikki’s head popped out of her own chosen’s jacket.  “Nothing would have happened to Adeline, even if Adrien got hurt.”

Adrien and Marinette shared a look of confusion.  “What do you mean?” Adrien asked.

“Not everyone can just drop their baby off at their in-laws’,” Plagg pointed out, rather unhelpfully.

Tikki sighed.  “What Plagg means is that we’ve had chosens who’ve had no choice but to take their small children into battle with them,” she explained.  “The suits offer them even more protection than they offer you, as the child doesn’t need to be able to move.  They’re specifically designed that even a direct hit wouldn’t cause any harm to the kid.  It would have been perfectly fine for Adrien to have fought today with Adeline.”

“Which is what I told you earlier,” Plagg pointed out, giving Adrien a look, and Adrien just shrugged.

The kwamis disappeared again as a family neared them on the street, and Marinette and Adrien offered them smiles.

“I’m still not comfortable fighting with the baby,” she continued, once the family was out of earshot.  “I feel like I’d be too worried about her to concentrate on the fight.”

Adrien nodded in agreement.  “We can figure something out,” he suggested.

The bakery was in their sights as they turned the next corner.

“I think I needed that,” Adrien commented, eyes downcast as he avoided stepping barefoot into a puddle.  At Marinette’s questioning gaze, he continued.  “The akuma attack.  It felt like everything was normal, and I just, I really think I needed that little bit of normal, you know?”

Marinette’s arms tightened around his waist.  “Are you okay?” she asked, slowing to a stop just far enough from the bakery to not be seen from anyone inside.  “You can go home, if you need to.  I can pick up Adeline and you can meet my parents some other time.”

Adrien shook his head, pulling her along.  “I’m fine,” he insisted.  “I want to meet your parents, Bugaboo.  It’s been long enough.”

He dragged her through the doorway, skin prickling with nerves as he tried not to think about how the only thing better about his second impression was that he wouldn’t be handing them a baby and running away.  The bell jingled as he pushed open the door, and the shop was empty save for the girl who’d been working at the counter when he first came in, who was now lounging in a chair scrolling through her phone.

Her head snapped up as she heard them enter, eyes lighting up and a wicked grin spreading across her face.

“Sabine!” she screeched.  “Baby Guy’s back!  And he’s got Marinette!”  Her eyes swept over the couple.  “And he’s still not wearing shoes!”

Adrien froze, again cursing the fact that he hadn’t thought to put on shoes before he left, and wondering if Marinette’s parents were judging him for it as much as her sister seemed to be.  But Marinette just gave him and encouraging smile, and tugged him further into the bakery.

“Hey, Manon,” she said, turning her smile on the girl.  “I take it you already met Adrien?”

The girl’s—Manon’s—eyebrow raised, and he shifted nervously as her eyes swept over him again.

“Adrien, huh?” she repeated, pulling herself to her feet and crossing her arms over her chest.  “Adrien who?”

Marinette rolled her eyes.  “Adrien my boyfriend,” she said pointedly. 

Manon’s eyebrow rose further.  “So you didn’t make him up.”

Marinette spluttered for a moment as her sister smirked.  She didn’t have time to form a response before her parents emerged from the back, Adeline cradled against Sabine’s chest.

“I believe you said you’d explain later,” Sabine reminded him, glancing between Adrien and her daughter.

Adrien opened his mouth, but Marinette beat him to the punch.

“Maman, Papa, this is my boyfriend, Adrien.” She gestured at him, and he knew the way he smiled and waved at them must have been awkward as hell but he couldn’t bring himself to do more.  His attention was briefly captured by Manon, who had chosen to weave circles around him to study him.  He straightened instinctively.  “Adrien, these are my parents.  You’ve already met my mom, Sabine, and my dad is Tom.  And that’s—Manon, what are you doing?”

“Investigating.”  Her sister didn’t offer any more of an answer, continuing in her study.

Adrien tried to ignore her, turning back to Marinette’s parents.  “I’m sorry about earlier,” he said.  “Marinette was zapped by the akuma and turned into a cave person, and I had to get Adeline out of there before I tried to help her.”

Sabine smiled, and Adrien felt himself marginally relax.  She wouldn’t be smiling at him if she though he was some crazy psycho who shouldn’t be dating her daughter, right?

“That was very sweet of you, Adrien,” she told him.  “I’m glad Marinette has someone looking out for her.  Of course, that doesn’t explain the baby, or why she’s—what were the words you used again?”

“Kind of your granddaughter,” Manon helpfully quoted, and Adrien jumped as her finger poked into his hair at the back of his head.  “Sort of.”

Adrien took a deep breath.  He’d known he’d have to tell them at some point.  He’d known it would probably be soon, considering the first impression he’d made, but he’d still hoped to put it off until later.

Thankfully Marinette decided to step in again.  “She’s Adrien’s niece.”  She glanced up at him, offering a small smile.  “We’ll explain better later.”

That seemed to satisfy both her parents for now, and her father said something about an oven before disappearing again.  Adrien let himself believe that he hadn’t completely messed up this second impression, and that he maybe even had hope for making up for his first.

All hope disappeared as Manon suddenly straightened up in front of him, far too close to his face for comfort, and sent him an accusatory glare.  “Are you Chat Noir?”

Adrien spluttered out something incoherent, trying to find a way around either having to straight up lie to his girlfriend’s family or out himself as the superhero.

“Manon.”  Sabine’s voice was sharp enough to snap Adrien from his inner panic, and to make Manon turn around sheepishly.  “Your shift ended an hour ago.  Stop bothering the poor boy and go home.”

Manon pouted, crossing her arms and stamping her foot like a toddler.  “Can I ask one more question, then?”  Without waiting for permission, she rounded on Adrien once more, grin back on her face.  “Why aren’t you wearing shoes?”

Adrien blinked at her, still processing the whole being-accused-of-being-his-secret-identity thing, and was slow to answer.  “The akuma stole them.”

The girl’s eyebrow raised in a look of serious disbelief.  “Are you sure?”

Sabine huffed loudly, and her voice held a tone of warning.  “Manon.”

The girl in question’s face lit up in a bright smile, and she spun away to plant a kiss on her sister’s cheek.  “Bye, Mari!” she cooed, skipping towards the door.  “Bye, Sabine!  Bye, baby!  Bye, Adrien Totally-Not-Chat-Noir I-Don’t-Know-Your-Last-Name!  I look forward to more interrogations!”  She pushed the door open, stepping into the outdoors before ducking her head back in and sending a pointed look at his feet.  “You might want to remember shoes next time.”

And with that, Manon was gone, leaving Adrien wondering what the hell just happened.

Sabine came towards them then, carefully transferring the sleeping baby into Adrien’s arms.  “It’s very nice to finally meet you, dear,” she told him, smiling kindly up at him.  “I’ve heard so many good things about you over the years.”

“Same to you,” Adrien said, shaking off the unease Manon had left behind and offering her a smile.  “I’m sorry we couldn’t have met earlier.”

Sabine clapped her hands together.  “Marinette, why don’t you show him around the place and get comfortable?” she suggested.  “Your father and I will be up as soon as we close down the shop to get started on dinner.  You’ll both be staying?”

Adrien looked to Marinette for an answer, and she shrugged, silently telling him it was up to how he was feeling.  “Sounds good,” he said, turning back to her mother.

Sabine squeezed his arm with a final smile before heading towards the back of the shop, and Marinette lead him towards the stairs to the apartment.

It wouldn’t be his first time inside.  Far from it, in fact.  He’d spent his nights hanging out in Marinette’s bedroom long before he started dating her as Ladybug, and he was more than familiar with the rest of the house as well.  So, no, it wouldn’t be his first time inside.  It would, however, be his first time through the front door.

“Your sister doesn’t live with you?” he commented as they climbed the stairs.  Marinette turned and looked at him quizzically before her eyes widened in understanding.

“You mean Manon?” He nodded, and Marinette offered him a smile.  “She’s not my sister.  I mean, she might as well be, but she’s not.  I used to babysit her, and now she works for my parents.”  They paused as they reached the door.  “You might remember her, actually.  The Puppeteer?”

It took him a moment, but the akuma in question came back and he struggled to connect the girl he’d met with the purple and blue villain.  “ _She_ was the Puppeteer?” he repeated.  “But the Puppeteer was so young!”

Marinette smiled at his distress, pushing open the door to her childhood home.  “It _has_ been eight years, Adrien,” she reminded him.  “People grow up.”

*********

All in all, Marinette’s parents seemed to take the whole situation pretty well.  Tears were shed when Adrien told them about his brother, and they offered whatever help they could give in regards to Adeline.  What surprised them both most of all was that neither Sabine nor Tom seemed to have any issue with Adrien moving into Marinette’s apartment, despite only having met him earlier that afternoon.

Dinner was amazing, although it was cut short since Marinette and Adrien hadn’t brought anything for Adeline to eat, or even a diaper bag for that matter—a fact which Tom and Sabine used as a lead in to tell embarrassing stories of Marinette as a baby—and Adrien felt an overwhelming sense of warmth as he and Marinette left that evening with Adeline, him wearing borrowed shoes and a jacket.

“Your family is amazing,” he gushed once they reached the apartment.  The trek was made easier by travelling the rooftops, Adeline having returned to her kitten pouch.  “I didn’t know family dinners could feel so nice and comforting.”

Marinette sent him a confused look, stopping in her search for pyjamas to come to his side.  “What do you mean?”

Adrien shrugged, eyes training to the ground.  Was what he was saying somehow wrong?  “I think Felix was happy with Bridgette,” he said.  “Or as happy as Felix could be, anyway.  But even before Mère died, our family was never like yours.  Dinners were silent, even when Père and Mère decided to show up for them.  I’ve just—I never thought doing something as a family could be so…” He trailed off, trying and failing to find a word to encompass the feelings eating dinner with the Dupain-Chengs had given him, and finally deciding for a simple, “…like that.”

He could feel Marinette’s gaze on him for a long moment, before she wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him tight against her.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered into his shoulder.  “I should have agreed to tell you sooner, kitty.  I didn’t know.”  He wasn’t entirely sure what she was talking about, but he wrapped his arms around her anyway, stroking her back.  “I promise we’ll have more dinners like that.  All our dinners will be like that.  I promise.  You shouldn’t have to be so alone.”

Adrien felt tears stinging his eyes, and removed one of his hands from around her to tilt her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes.  “I’m not alone,” he said softly.  “I’ve never been alone, Mari.  Cause I’ve got you.”

He leaned down, capturing her lips in his.  Her arms moved from around his waist to wrap around his neck as she returned his kiss.  He knew tears were falling down his face, but he couldn’t tell if they were sad ones or happy ones.  Happy in that he had someone as wonderful as Marinette, and that her family was just as amazing as she was and that they’d accepted him into it without argument.

Probably, he mused, it was a bit of both.

Marinette seemed to realize he was crying, too, because she pulled back and gazed up at him, concern marring her features.  But Adrien just shook his head, claiming her lips once more.


	4. I Apologize

When Marinette woke, she was tangled with Adrien.  Which, if she was being honest, was one of the best things in the world.  Another one of the best things in the world was that, according to the light shining in her window, it was actually morning, meaning that, by some impossible miracle, Adeline had actually slept through the whole night.

She curled closer to Adrien, savoring the few moments before she needed to get up, and smiled as his arms tightened around her.  Why had they waited so long to tell each other their identities?  She could have been waking up like this for years.

But she wasn’t going to dwell on that.  She had him now, and she wasn’t going to let him go.  Except for quite literally right now, as she pulled out of his arms and into the chilly February air of her apartment.

Shivering slightly, she pulled on a hoodie and turned up the thermostat as she passed it, crossing the bedroom to where they’d put Adeline’s cradle.  The baby was still sound asleep, Tikki and Plagg curled up against her sides.

She moved into the kitchen to make some tea, and cringed at the clock.  Not only had Adeline not woken them up every few hours, but she’d actually let them sleep in.  Which meant she only had about an hour before she was supposed to meet Alya for lunch.

The kettle finished boiling, and she turned to pull two mugs from the cupboard, wondering whether Adrien would be up for coming to lunch with her. 

As she made the tea, a pair of arms wrapped around her from behind, and Adrien pressed his face into her neck, planting a kiss against her skin.

“I can’t believe we actually got to sleep the whole night,” he murmured against her.

“It was so nice.”  Marinette smiled, squeezing his hand.  “Tea?”

Adrien expressed his thanks in another kiss before pulling away and leaning against the counter, his side pressing against Marinette’s and his mug in his hands.

“So I was wondering,” he started, fiddling with the handle on his mug, “did you want to come with me today?  I’m meeting my friend’s fiancée, and he suggested you come along as well.”

Marinette glanced over at him with a smile.  “I’d love to,” she said.  “What time?”

Adrien returned her grin.  “Noon.”

“Oh, I guess I can’t make it, then.”  She took a sip of her tea, leaning against Adrien’s shoulder.  “I’m getting lunch with some friends.  Sorry.”  She looked up at him.  “I’d love to meet your friends another time, though.  I was actually going to invite you to lunch, too.”

Adrien chuckled slightly, draping an arm around her shoulders.  “I’d love to meet your friends, too, my Lady.”

*********

Alya was already waiting outside when Marinette reached her apartment.

“You’re late,” she pointed out.

Marinette shrugged, adjusting the strap of her purse on her shoulder.  “The baby actually let us sleep in today,” she explained, “and then she needed to eat and be changed and, honestly, Al.  Babies are a lot of work.”

Alya laughed and tugged Marinette into walking down the street.  “You’ve been living with this baby for, what, three days?”

“Four.”

“And you already sound like a mom.”

Marinette bumped Alya with her shoulder.  “I’m _not_ a mom,” she insisted, eyes trained on the ground.  “Please don’t say things like that.  Especially when you meet my boyfriend.”

“Gosh, Mari, it was a joke,” Alya said.  “But I won’t mention you and your boyfriend being parents around him if you don’t want me to.  Even though that is what you are now.”

Her friend scowled at her.  “His brother died four days ago, Alya,” she reminded her.  “Please try to remember that.”

Alya apologized and had the decency to look chastised for all of half a block before her grin was back on her face and she was nudging Marinette with her elbow.

“You’re talking like I’m actually gonna meet Mystery Guy soon,” she said.  “Is he meeting us for lunch?”

Marinette shook her head.  “He already had plans,” she told her friend, pulling her coat tighter against the chilly breeze.  “You’ll get to meet him soon, though.”

Alya eyed her sceptically, pausing in front of the door to the restaurant they were meeting Nino and his best man at.  “Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Good.”

Alya grinned and pushed open the door, and Marinette followed her into the blessed warmth inside.  They stood by the entrance for a minute scanning the crowd for Nino.  Their eyes lighted on him at the same time, sitting at a table with a blond man with a baby on his lap.

“There’s Nino,” Alya said, and they moved from the doorway.  “And that must be—”

It was at that moment that the blond man’s head turned, his face coming into view and making Marinette freeze in her tracks because Nino’s socially awkward, always busy, supermodel best friend was none other than—

“Adrien?”

Alya’s eyes snapped to her.  “Who’s Adrien?” she wondered, turning back to take in her fiancé’s best friend.  “The hot guy with the baby?  Honestly, Mari, if things weren’t going well with Mystery Guy, I’d totally set you up with Hot Baby Guy.”

Nino spotted them and waved them over, standing to pull out a chair for Alya.  Adrien’s eyes met Marinette’s, brows scrunching together in a look of confusion.

Nino grinned warmly at them as they approached the table, and Adeline let out a loud coo.

“Hey, dudes,” Nino said, helping Alya out of her coat.  “This is Adrien, who’s finally not busy enough to actually meet you.  Adrien, this is Alya, my fiancée, and her maid of honour—”

“Hi, Marinette,” Adrien interrupted, grin spreading across his face.  “Apparently you do have time to meet my friend today.”

Marinette grinned back.  “Apparently.”

Alya and Nino stared at them in confusion as Marinette sunk into the chair next to Adrien, reaching over to tickle Adeline with a familiarity unfit for people who had just met.

“Wait,” Nino said slowly.  “You guys know each other?”

Marinette turned her attention away from the baby.  “Alya, Nino, I’d like you to meet my secret boyfriend, Adrien.”  She punctuated her claim by pressing a kiss against his cheek.

Their friends stared for a moment longer before taking their seats at the opposite side of the table.

“Wait,” Nino said, drawing out the word and staring at Adrien. “You’re telling me that Marinette is the girl you’ve been in love with for forever?”  Adrien shrugged in response.

“And I’m just supposed to believe,” Alya interjected, pointing across the table into Marinette’s face, “that your flirty, ridiculous boyfriend is Nino’s nerdy, lovesick best friend?”  Marinette didn’t have a chance to answer before Nino was talking again.

“I helped you pick out Valentine’s Day and anniversary and birthday presents for Marinette?”

“The same guy I listened to you go on and on about how sexy and romantic he is is the guy Nino went off about for memorizing animes?”

“You’ve given me detailed descriptions of Marinette’s kissing skills, man!  I don’t want to know that about her!”

“You—”

“Stop!” Both Alya and Nino froze at Marinette’s outburst.  She relaxed back in her chair, rolling her eyes.  “I think we’ve already established this.  I really don’t think we need to go through the details.”

Alya raised an eyebrow at her friend.  “But we will be going over all the details later.”

“Of course.”  Marinette rolled her eyes, and Alya turned to Adrien.

“It’s nice to finally meet you,” she said, smiling brightly.  “Both of you, technically.”

Adrien grinned back.  “It’s great to meet you, too.”

“So.  Now that we got that out of the way,” Alya paused to lean closer to Adrien, “did you see the akuma attack yesterday?”  Marinette rolled her eyes, and Alya spared her a scowl.  “I know you’ve already heard, but Adrien hasn’t.”

“Hasn’t what?” Adrien wondered.

“Chat Noir had a baby with him,” Nino said, flipping through his menu.  “It’s all she’s been able to talk about.”

“It’s big!” Alya insisted.  “How could we have missed Ladybug’s pregnancy?”

“Or maybe it wasn’t even their baby.”  Marinette rolled her eyes.  “There’s no way you could miss a pregnancy with that suit.  They were probably babysitting or something.”

Alya made a noise of protest, and Nino covered her mouth with his hand.  “She’s their biggest fan,” he told Adrien.  “She also runs the Ladyblog.”

“Really?” Adrien raised his eyebrows at Marinette, finding amusement in the fact that Ladybug’s best friend was the creator of their biggest fan site.

“Really,” she deadpanned, plucking Adeline from his lap in response to his shit eating grin.

Adrien leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table.  “Please,” he told Alya.  “Tell me everything about Ladybug.”

Alya finally managed to get Nino’s hand away, and shot Marinette a look.  “Seems like your boyfriend has a crush on a superhero, Mari.”  Her tone was mocking, and Marinette decided not to dignify her with an answer.

Adrien, however, did not get the memo, waving a dismissive hand in the air.  “Like Mari wouldn’t leave me in a heartbeat for Chat Noir.”  Alya and Nino let out twin guffaws, and Marinette smacked him in the arm.

*********

The video was anonymously submitted to a news station, according to Alya.  She was pissed she didn’t get it on the Ladyblog first, but there really wasn’t anything to be done about it.  Either way, it had been a shock to the entire city when Hawkmoth’s face—or, well, mask—lit up the evening news.

_“Good evening, Paris.  I have a message for Ladybug and Chat Noir.  I would like to congratulate them on their baby, as well as apologize.  I was not aware that Ladybug was pregnant, or I would have laid back on the akumas to not cause any complications.  I would appreciate it if you announced your next pregnancy to ensure your safety._

_“But, as it is, I apologize for any problems I may have caused during your pregnancy.  You may see me as the bad guy, but I would not intentionally attack a pregnant woman._

_“Congratulations again on the birth of your child.  A baby gift will be coming for you with the next akuma._

_“Goodnight.”_

Marinette and Adrien stared in shock at the television screen as their enemy faded from the screen.  Marinette had frozen with a mug of hot chocolate halfway to her lips, and Adrien with Adeline half inside a new set of pyjamas.  The news anchors moved on to another topic and they still stared.

Adrien broke the silence with a muted, “What the fuck?” and Marinette just couldn’t take it anymore.  Her mug returned to the coffee table as she doubled over in laughter.  Adrien joined her a moment later, Adeline left half-dressed as he collapsed on the ground.

Within moments, they were both rolling around on the carpet.

“I can’t believe this,” Marinette gasped out between giggles.  “What even was that?”

“Did—did Hawkmoth just say he’s going to send an akuma with a baby present?” Adrien was sure he was crying because this was ridiculous, right?  Supervillains didn’t just buy baby presents for the superheroes, did they?

“Why does everyone think I had a baby?” Marinette asked as they lay there together, catching their breath, the occasional giggle still breaking out between them.  “I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to hide a pregnancy in that suit.”

“Why would you even fight if you were pregnant?” Adrien wondered, fingers lazily tracing along Marinette’s leg.  “I think that would just be a horrible idea in general.”

“Are you saying that pregnant women can’t do shit?”  The bubbling giggles made it difficult for her to fake annoyance, but she tried.

“No, I’m saying pregnant women probably shouldn’t be fighting supervillains.”  Marinette burst into another round of laughter, pulling Adrien with her and away from the calm he’d almost reached.

By the time they got around to finishing dressing Adeline, she’d already fallen asleep.

*********

Marinette was knitting on the couch, Adeline asleep on the carpet with the kwamis.  Placing two mugs of hot chocolate on the coffee table, Adrien sunk down beside his girlfriend, curling into her side.  He sighed as she briefly ran her fingers through his hair before returning to her knitting.

“I was thinking,” he started, fingers playing with the end of her yarn.  “It’d probably be easiest to have someone on call, right?  For if there’s an akuma attack, so we could drop off Adeline with them and not have to worry about it.”

“That’d probably work best,” Marinette agreed.  “But wouldn’t we have to give them a reason for why we only need them to look after her during akuma attacks?  I think they’d catch on pretty fast.”

Adrien hummed.  “That’s why I was thinking the Gorilla.”

Marinette stopped knitting and stared down at him, eyebrows scrunched together.  “The Gorilla?” she repeated.  “You want us to leave Adeline with a monkey while we fight?”

He laughed, shaking his head against her side.  “He was my nanny,” he explained.  “And my bodyguard.  And my chauffeur.”

“And his name is Gorilla?”

“No, I think his name is Greg?  Maybe?”  Adrien shrugged.  “Père hired him when we were little and Felix gave him the nickname and it stuck.”

Marinette nodded slowly.  “But how does this help with the secret identities part?”

“Oh.”  Adrien flipped his hand dismissively before returning it to batting around the yarn.  “He knows I’m Chat Noir.”

His girlfriend blinked at him.  “What?”

“Did I never mention that?” Adrien offered a sheepish smile.  “I definitely meant to mention that.  I’m pretty sure he figured it out sometime around the second attack.  It was kind of inevitable, though.  I was never allowed to go anywhere without him.”

Marinette shook her head.  “Okay, so your nanny knows you’re Chat Noir,” she confirmed and then snorted.  “You still had a nanny at fourteen?”

Adrien just rolled his eyes.  “Nino’s given me enough heck about the Gorilla,” he said.  “And technically I had a nanny until my dad died…which doesn’t really help my case.  But he was mostly just a bodyguard and chauffeur by that point.”

She ran a hand through his hair, giggling under her breath.  “I can’t believe you still had a nanny when you were twenty,” she snickered.

“Chauffeur slash bodyguard,” Adrien corrected, tugging at a loose part of the ball of yarn.  “But that’s not the point.  The point is that the Gorilla is good, and he already knows I’m Chat Noir, and I’ve got enough money to pay him full time so that we could just drop off Adeline whenever we need to.”  He glanced up at Marinette.  “He’s probably the best option, unless you want to tell your parents our identities.”

Marinette shook her head.  “They’re not finding out until Hawkmoth is gone,” she said.  “They’d worry too much.”  She finished off her row of knitting and reached for her hot chocolate.  “So when are we meeting up with this Gorilla?”

“I’ll send him a text right now.”  Adrien grinned up at her and batted the yarn off the couch.

*********

Marinette was not exactly sure what she was expecting Gorilla the Nanny to look like.  Maybe some sort of little old man?  But, then again, he was also a bodyguard, so he’d have to be fit, and a chauffeur, which she really didn’t have a picture in her mind for, so she honestly had no idea what she was expecting to walk up to later that afternoon.

Of course, a vaguely gorilla looking man probably should have been her first guess.

(In all honesty, she had been too caught up in the fact that _Chat Noir_ had had a nanny until he was _twenty_ to really think about what said nanny was going to look like.)

Adrien greeted the Gorilla—and actually addressed him as that?  What?—like a long lost friend, and Marinette had a hard time picturing him running around after Adrien and his brother when they were little.  The man was huge, and seemed to have a permanent scowl attached to his face.  His only responses to Adrien’s jokes and elbow jabs were grunts.

She raised an eyebrow, but smiled at him as she finally caught up.  “Hi,” she said, holding out a hand.  “I’m Marinette, and you must be Adrien’s nanny?”

“Bodyguard and chauffeur,” Adrien grumbled half-heartedly.

“Gorilla’s fine,” the man grunted.  “That’s what the kids call me.”

“He means me and Nino.”

Gorilla sent Adrien look that was slightly fonder than his default scowl.  “There was something you wanted to discuss?” he reminded them, glancing at his watch.  “My granddaughter’s ballet recital is in an hour and a half, so I can’t talk long.”

Adrien nodded, adjusting his hold on Adeline.  “You know that secret of mine that you know?” he asked, and the Gorilla nodded.  “And you know who I’m dating, right?”  The older man sent him a pointed look before dragging his eyes to Marinette.  “Right.  So you see why having Adeline might be a bit of a problem, don’t you?”

“So you want me to nanny?” Gorilla confirmed and Adrien nodded enthusiastically.  “You do know I’m retired, don’t you?”

Adrien shrugged.  “But that’s why this would be great,” he said.  “It wouldn’t be set hours.  Just whenever an akuma shows up, or Marinette’s parents aren’t able to babysit and you’re available.  Whichever one of us has Adeline sends you a text, you tell us where you are, and we drop her off while we fight.  It’d be a steady rate of two thousand euros a week, plus an additional fifty an hour for when you’re actually looking after her.”

Marinette had to forcibly keep her jaw from dropping at the fact that Adrien could just casually offer to pay someone such an outrageous salary without it making a dent in his worth.  She’d seen an article in a magazine a year or so back about the wealthiest bachelors in the world.  Adrien Agreste had been number three.

Said multibillionaire was currently trying to coerce Adeline into copying his puppy dog eyes to convince the Gorilla to accept his offer, though Marinette had no idea why anyone would refuse.

“What do you say?” he asked, and the Gorilla’s scowl seemed to lessen slightly.

“Alright,” he said, and Adrien let out a whoop.  “Have Nathalie draw up a contract.  I’ve got to go.  I promised Millie I’d be there early.”  He nodded at Marinette.  “It was nice to meet you.”

“It was nice to meet you, too,” Marinette replied, and the man nodded again before setting off towards his car.

“Isn’t he the best?” Adrien sighed, wrapping the arm that didn’t hold Adeline around Marinette’s shoulders.

She glanced back at the still scowling giant.  If he was responsible for Adrien turning out the way he was, he must be good at his job.  So she turned back to Adrien with a smile.

“The best,” she agreed.

*********

Adrien hated today.  He hated everything about it.  He hated the suit he was wearing.  He hated Marinette and Adeline’s dresses.  He hated the fact that it was raining and they all had to have umbrellas.  He hated the ringing in his ears that kept him from hearing what the people were saying.  He hated the paparazzi lined up by the road.  He hated the fans that thought they knew them, just because they’d had their posters on their walls years ago.  He hated every last detail about today.

But mostly he hated that it was real now, permanent.  He hated that they were putting Felix and Bridgette’s bodies into the ground, and that they’d never come back.

Marinette’s hand squeezing his was the only thing keeping him from screaming as Felix and Bridgette’s friends took turns saying nice things about them.  Neither had had any family besides him, as Bridgette had grown up an orphan, so the only people gathered were friends.

He tried to listen, he really did.  He tried his hardest to listen to the things they were saying about his brother, but he couldn’t.  His ears blocked them out automatically as he put all his focus into keeping the tears at bay.  He’d already cried too much.  He couldn’t cry today.  Père wouldn’t have liked him to show the emotion, and Felix would have agreed.  He’d been the only one to shed tears at his mother’s funeral, years ago, and then again at his father’s.

So he couldn’t cry, even if Marinette was.  He had to be strong, because, no matter what Marinette may say, Agrestes were supposed to show emotions.

He stood there, forcing back tears and trying not to throw up, and tried to pay attention to what was going on.  It wasn’t going well.

He jumped when Marinette’s shoulder bumped into his, and was able to focus long enough for her to mumble something about him being called to speak.

He felt their eyes, everyone’s eyes, as he stepped out from under the umbrella.  He was soaked by the time he reached the front, but he hardly noticed.

He stared out at the sea of navy and black, all the faces of people he’d never met.  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them once more.  Someone handed him a microphone, and he grasped it in his hands.

“Felix is—was—my brother,” he started, the words pushing past the block in his throat.  “He was also one of my best friends.  Growing up, we never really knew a lot of people our own age, so we had each other.  I—” He broke off, steading his breathing so the tears wouldn’t fall.  Felix wouldn’t want him to cry.  “We met Bridgette at a photoshoot.  She’d come for an autograph.  Felix—he pretended to be annoyed, but I could tell that he liked her.”  He stopped again, his breath coming in too fast.  Why was this so hard?  He should have been able to do this.  “Felix is—Felix was—he—”

It was a sob that cut him off that time, ripping through his chest and breaking the thin amount of control he’d had left.  Tears were streaming down his face, and he’d failed.  He’d failed Père and Felix and everyone because he wasn’t strong enough to do this.

Someone put a hand on his shoulder, and he shrugged it off, microphone falling into the sopping grass as he fled.

He stopped running when he couldn’t breathe, when the tears and snot running down his face became too much and he just couldn’t go any further.  He was somewhere deep in the cemetery at that point, and he leaned against an angel statue to try to calm himself down.

What was wrong with him?  He shouldn’t be crying.  Agrestes didn’t cry, they didn’t show weakness.  But he’d been crying so much, and it just wasn’t right.  Père would be ashamed of him.  Felix, too.  He was a failure.

He jumped away when a hand landed on his arm.

“Hey, hey.  It’s me, kitty.  I’m here.”

He let out a large sob at her voice instead of running again, and let Marinette pull him into her arms.  He clung to her, crying into her shoulder and probably ruining her dress.  She held him back, stroking his hair and whispering words into his ear.

It was a long time before he calmed enough to speak.

“I’m sorry,” he croaked, his throat raw and aching.  His entire body ached, if he was honest.

“Shh,” Marinette whispered, holding him tighter.  “You don’t have to apologize.”

Adrien sniffed.  “But I do,” he insisted, still hiding his face.  “I shouldn’t have acted like that.  I should have been able to be stronger.  Agrestes aren’t supposed to cry.  We’re not supposed to show weakness.”

Marinette’s fingers froze momentarily before going back to running through his hair.  “That’s bullshit,” she told him bluntly, and Adrien flinched slightly.  “I’m sorry, but it is.  You know how I feel about your father, and I know Nino feels the same way.  This whole Agrestes can’t show weakness thing is really unhealthy.”

“But—” Adrien’s protest was weak, and Marinette cut him off.

“No buts.”  He sniffed against her.  “You’re allowed to show emotions, Adrien.  You’re allowed to cry, even as an Agreste.”  He made another weak protest, but she just powered on.  “No, okay?  Adeline is an Agreste.  She cries all the time.  And I plan to be an Agreste one day, and I cry.  Does that make me weak?”  Adrien hesitated, but ultimately shook his head.  “No, it doesn’t.  So why should it be any different for you?”

He didn’t say anything, and they stood there a while longer.  It wasn’t until a violent shiver ran through one or both of them that Adrien realized they were both soaked.

He pulled away slowly, body stiff from lack of movement, and Marinette offered him a small smile.

“Where—” Adrien had to pause to clear his throat.  “Where’s Adeline?”  He probably should have noticed earlier that Marinette had come alone.

“The Gorilla has her,” she said, catching his hands.  “You okay to head back?  We can just go home, if you want.  The service is probably over by now anyway.”

Adrien nodded, and leaned heavily against Marinette as they started to walk.


	5. I Had A Whole Speech

When Marinette woke, it was to an empty bed and the scent of bacon.  She groaned softly, reveling in the warmth of her bed for a moment longer, before she made herself get up.

Adeline was under her mobile thing on the living room carpet, Tikki cuddled up against her side as the baby laughed at the tiny black cat dancing in and out of the plush ones hanging above her.  Adrien was in the kitchen, and she made her way to him, looping her arms around his waist and kissing his bare back.

“Happy anniversary,” she murmured against his skin.

He turned in her grip and captured her lips with his for a long moment.  When they needed to breathe, he pulled back just enough to press their foreheads together.

“Happy anniversary,” he whispered back, pecking a quick kiss against her nose before pulling away and turning back to the stove.  “You were supposed to sleep longer, Bugaboo.  I was making breakfast in bed.”

Marinette hummed in approval, hopping up to sit on a free area of counter space.  “We could always take breakfast back to bed with us,” she pointed out.  “There’s no rule against that.”

Adrien flashed her a grin.  “Sounds like a plan,” he agreed.  “This is almost ready.  Wanna grab Addy and get settled and I can pretend I woke you up with breakfast?”

“You did wake me up with breakfast,” Marinette pointed out, starting back towards the living room.  “You’d have to be crazy to be able to sleep through bacon.”  Adrien laughed, and Marinette picked up the baby, dislodging her sleeping kwami.  “Has she eaten?”

Adrien called back the affirmative, and Marinette made her way back to the bedroom, making faces at the cooing baby.

She cuddled back under the blankets, lying Adeline on her back in the middle of the bed.

Tikki and Plagg swooped in a moment later, settling down on Marinette’s knees.

“Are you excited for your date tonight, Marinette?” Tikki asked, grinning up at her.

Plagg rolled his eyes.  “They’ve already had, like, a million dates,” he pointed out.  “What’s so special about this one?”

Tikki sent him a pointed look.  “You know exactly what’s special about this one,” she reminded him, and Plagg just shrugged, rolling down Marinette’s calf and crashing into Adeline.  He started up a purr that made her giggle and grab for him.

Marinette bit her lip, glancing out through the door.  She couldn’t see into the kitchen, or if Adrien was on his way, and she looked back down at Tikki.

“I am excited,” she admitted.  “I mean, it’s a pretty big anniversary, and even without that it’s our first date knowing each other’s identities.  And it’s the first one we can actually have in public.”  She tucked her hair behind her ears nervously.  “I’ve never actually been on a real date to a restaurant before.”

“Neither has he,” Plagg pointed out.  Adeline had caught him at some point, and now held her in her grip, sucking on his ear, not that Plagg actually seemed to mind.

“Right,” Marinette agreed.  “It just…it almost feels like it’s our first date all over again, you know?”

Tikki just smiled, and Adrien came in then, carrying a massive tray of food.

“My Lady,” he said, handing a plate to her.  She accepted it with a grin, and Adrien placed a glass of juice on her bedside table. 

“Kwamis.”  He laid a plate laden with cheese and cookies at the end of the bed, and Tikki flitted over with a thank you while Plagg just called out for her to toss him a piece of camembert. 

“Baby.”  He pressed a kiss to Adeline’s forehead and she punched him in the nose.  Plagg laughed loudly, catching the piece of cheese that Tikki threw in his paws.

Adrien set the tray on the ground, and crawled into bed with his own plate, pulling Marinette into his side.

“Happy anniversary,” he said again, covering her face in kisses.  Marinette laughed, and tugged him down for a proper kiss before settling back with her food.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, cuddled together and eating their breakfasts.  Marinette was ridiculously happy.  This was almost everything she’d pictured for her and Chat, knowing each other’s identities and living together and there just being so much love.

It was Adrien who broke the silence.

“You’re sure your parents are okay with watching her overnight?”

Marinette offered him a smile, swallowing the strawberry she’d just bitten.  “Oh, yeah,” she assured him.  “They love babies.”

Adrien returned her smile, and the topic drifted to Hawkmoth’s mystery baby gift.  It’d been almost two weeks without any akuma.  While it wasn’t entirely unusual, they couldn’t help but wonder if he was stuck in the gift department, or if he was making up for sending out akumas while she was “pregnant”.

“It’s probably going to have some sort of tracking device in it,” Marinette pointed out, and Adrien had to agree.

They chattered on about everything and nothing, content to be curled up in bed all day.  But it seemed, by the bedroom door slamming open and Tikki and Plagg diving for cover, someone else didn’t share their plans.

Alya threw herself into the room.  “Wakey wakey eggs and bakey!” she crowed.  “Time to get ready!”

Nino appeared at her shoulder, a hand across his eyes.  “Alya, that wasn’t knocking!” he scolded, before turning his sightless face in the direction he knew his friends were in.  “Are you naked?  Am I allowed to look now?”

“Marinette’s wearing a shirt,” Alya said, crossing her arms and leaning back against the wall.  “Adrien may or may not be naked but the blanket’s covering him up so you’re all good.”

Marinette rolled her eyes as Nino uncovered his.  “What are you doing here?” she questioned, because they both knew it was their anniversary, so they really had no reason to be in their bedroom.  Actually, even if they hadn’t known it was their anniversary, they still didn’t have any reason to be in their bedroom.

Alya bounced off the wall, her initial excitement remembered against.  “You realize you’ve never let me help you get ready for a date before, right?” She was jumping up and down, and Marinette had to admit that she was right.  She’d helped Alya get ready for numerous dates with Nino, but, despite having been dating Adrien for almost as long, Alya’d never had the chance to return the favour.  Her friend grinned at her.  “We’re going all out, Mari!”

Marinette grinned back, leaning around Adrien to check the clock.  “But it’s eleven,” she pointed out.  “Dinner’s not till six.  Do we really need seven hours?”

“Girl, I brought my pedicure kit,” Alya said, plucking up Adeline from the bed and redistributing her in Nino’s arms.  Her fiancé’s eyes widened as he froze, tensing up and holding the baby exactly as she’d been placed in his arms.  “You wearing pants under there, Agreste?”

Adrien blinked in confusion for a moment before answering.  “Underwear, yeah.”

“Good.”  With the confirmation that she wouldn’t be seeing anything she didn’t want to see, Alya ripped the covers off the bed, empty breakfast dishes crashing onto the ground.

“Alya!” Marinette hissed, but her friend paid her no mind.

“Adrien, put on some pants on,” she instructed.  “And then get out.  Me and Mari are having girls’ day.”

Marinette groaned, flopping down.  “Alya, I’m all for girls’ day,” she said, “but it’s our anniversary.  Maybe I wanted to spend it with Adrien.”

“I told you we should’ve called,” Nino pointed out, staring down at Adeline as if she was going to explode at any moment.

Adrien leaned down to press a kiss against Marinette’s forehead.  “I’ve got some stuff I need to take care of before dinner, anyway, and I can drop Addy off,” he said, and Marinette pouted briefly before capturing his lips in a kiss.

He pulled back a few moments later, glancing up at Alya.  “Am I allowed to take a shower first?”

“Nino can take you to use our shower.”

Adrien nodded.  “Of course.”  He caught Marinette’s lips again.  “I love you.”

“Love you, too.”  She smiled, and lay there as he threw on some jeans and a t-shirt and grabbed whatever clothes he planned to wear that night.

“Let’s roll, Nino,” he said, patting his friend on the head as he left the room.  Nino sent him a panicked look.

“Dude!” he yelped.  “Come get your baby!”

“Can’t you just walk with her?” Adrien’s voice called back.  “It’s really not that hard.”

“If I move she’s gonna drop.”  Nino’s eyes were trained on Adeline like even looking away would cause her to fall.  Her fist was tangled in his shirt.  “I just know it.”

Adrien rolled his eyes as he came back into the room, now with a jacket and shoes in addition to his outfit, and retrieved his niece from his friend’s arms.  Nino visibly relaxed, letting out a long breath.

“You get to carry her stuff, then,” Adrien told him as they left the room once more.

“Fine by me.”

 As the boys left the apartment, Alya crawled into Adrien’s vacated half of the bed.

“We’re gonna have so much fun,” she gushed.

Marinette smiled back, the excitement of the day she had to look forward to outweighing the fact that she and Adrien had to spend some of their anniversary apart.  “Seven hours of fun?”

“More like six and a bit,” Alya amended.  “Gotta make sure you get to your reservation on time.”

“Of course.”

“I’ve got so much planned.”  Alya giggled, and rolled onto her stomach, ticking items off on her fingers.  “We’re gonna do pedicures and face masks, and we’ll order pizza and I’m gonna do your hair and you’re gonna look absolutely gorgeous tonight, Marinette.  Adrien’s not gonna know what hit him.”

*********

“I’m telling you, man.  I could make it happen.”

Adrien rolled his eyes in Nino’s mirror, looping his tie around his neck.  They’d spent most of the day in Alya and Nino’s apartment, playing video games and trying to distract Adrien from his nerves.  Adeline was asleep in Nino’s lap at the moment, his friend seemingly much more comfortable holding a baby while sitting, while Adrien got dressed.

“And I’m telling you,” he told him, “we really don’t need Ladybug and Chat Noir to serenade our dinner.”

“But, like, Alya has connections,” Nino pointed out, waving a handful of chips at his friend for emphasis.  “We could actually do this.”

“Just because we can doesn’t mean we should.”  Adrien pulled his tie tight, and turned around.  “For all we know, they’re really bad singers and it would just ruin the mood.”

“Right,” Nino scoffed.  “Like adding Ladybug and Chat Noir to anything could ever ruin the mood.”

Adrien chose not to comment, checking his phone for the time instead.  “I should head out,” he said, patting his pocket for the hundredth time to make sure it was there.  “The Dupain-Chengs will be expecting Adeline soon.”

Nino didn’t move to offer him the baby, and Adrien had to cross the room to pick her up.

“Have fun,” he called from his seat, watching his friend load himself up with far too many bags of baby supplies for a single night sleepover.  “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Adrien turned around, a feigned look of horror on his face.  “Oh no!” he cried, softly enough to not wake Adeline.  “Look at that!  I’m holding a baby and walking!  At the same time!  It hasn’t even been a minute and I’m already breaking your rules!  How am I going to survive this date?”

Nino rolled his eyes and chucked a potato chip at him.  “Leave, nerd, or you’re gonna be late.”

Adrien grinned at his friend before all but skipping out the door.  The walk to Marinette’s parents’ house wasn’t too long, and before he knew it he was back in the warmth of the bakery—again about to hand off a baby, but actually wearing shoes this time, so he classified it as an improvement from the first time he’d been here.

Manon was back behind the counter, flipping through a magazine, and looked up as the bell rang.

“Sabine!” she yelled.  “Tom!  The baby guy’s here!  And he’s wearing shoes!”

Adrien rolled his eyes.  “You do remember my name, right?” he confirmed, and Manon just stuck out her tongue.

“Adrien’s been wearing shoes the last four times we’ve met him,” Sabine reminded her as she and Tom emerged from the back.  “I don’t think you need to point that out every single time he comes over.”

Manon grumbled something along the lines of “That’s what you think”, and Tom came forward to collect the baby.  Somehow, she’d managed to sleep through Manon’s yells, but by this point Adrien was fairly certain he could fight an akuma with her strapped to his chest and she wouldn’t wake up.

“So we really didn’t know what to pack,” Adrien said, guiltily lowering all his bags to the ground.  “It’s probably way too much, but we didn’t want you to be underprepared.”

Tom smiled.  “That’s still about half the amount we sent with Marinette the first time we left her with someone overnight,” he assured him, and Adrien let out a sigh of relief.  “Manon, can you take some of these upstairs?”

“Thank you so much again for looking after her,” Adrien said, watching Manon trudge over like she’d rather be doing anything than moving baby things.  He felt his nerves rising again.  It was burning a hole in his pocket.

“It’s really no problem,” Sabine assured him with a grin.  “We’re happy to look after her anytime.”

“Marinette is really happy with you, Adrien,” Tom added.  “Even if she could never introduce us to you, we were never really worried about who her boyfriend was.  You could always tell when she’d been with you.  It took hours for that smile to fade off her face.”

Adrien felt himself blushing and murmured out something that he wasn’t quite sure managed to sound like thanks.

“Have fun tonight,” Sabine told him.  “You’d better get going before you’re late.”

Adrien hesitated a moment, looking between her and Tom.  His eyes darted down as his hand sunk into his pocket.

“Actually,” he said, and their eyes were curious when he looked back up.  “There’s something I wanted to ask you.”  He pulled his hand back from his pocket, and Manon, who still hadn’t managed to reach the bags, let out a delighted scream at what it held.

*********

She shouldn’t be nervous, should she?  It wasn’t like she and Adrien hadn’t gone on dates before.  They’d gone on five years’ worth of dates.  This shouldn’t be anything special, right?  Just another date that happens to be an anniversary date.  No big deal.

But Chat hadn’t picked her up on their first date.  She hadn’t been waiting around in her room after an afternoon of pampering with Alya for him to knock on her door and sweep her off her feet.

No.  Their first date had been simple.  They’d met on a predetermined rooftop.  Chat had had a bouquet of daisies and a box of chocolates and looked so nervous and excited that she swore she’d stopped breathing for a bit.  He’d stuttered out something flirty and punny and far less smooth than usual, and she’d giggled, accepting the flowers and chocolates.

They’d left them there, while they went down to a coffee shop to buy hot chocolate.  The people inside had been shocked, and Chat had insisted on paying, and they went back to the roof.

He’d set out a blanket and pillows before she’d arrived, and they sat and talked and laughed for hours.

She’d kissed him on the cheek before she left, blushing as she said that they should do something like that again.  Chat’s face had been redder than she’d ever seen it, and he could only nod.

So they’d had their first date already, years ago, so there was really no reason she should be nervous, right?

That didn’t stop her from almost jumping out of her skin when the knock came on the door.  Tikki giggled at her before taking her place in Marinette’s purse.

She took a deep breath and smoothed out her skirt before opening the door, and her heart stopped.

Until a few weeks ago, she’d never seen Chat in anything but full leather.  Then she’d seen him in everything, from pyjamas to casual clothes to a suit to everything in between.

But she didn’t think he’d ever looked as good as he did in slacks and a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a green tie.

(She didn’t realize that he was thinking along the same lines, that he’d never seen Ladybug or Marinette in something as gorgeous as the light pink dress she’d made herself.  She didn’t realize it was taking everything he had to not just pass out in the hallway.)

He looked nervous, she noted vaguely, clutching a bouquet of flowers, but he was still the first of them to recover enough to speak.

“My Lady, you look…” His voice failed him after only moments, and he just shook his head.  “Wow.”

Marinette offered him a small smile.  “You, too.”

Adrien smiled back, and they stood there in the doorway, just smiling at each other like idiots, for god knows how long.  Long enough that even Plagg was tired of them, zooming out of Adrien’s shirt and rolling his eyes.

“Holy camembert,” he groaned, flitting between their faces.  “It’s like this is the first time you’ve seen each other or something.  Adrien, give Marinette the flowers.  Marinette, put them in water or leave them on the couch.  I don’t really care what you do with them.  But if you don’t do something soon, you’re going to miss your reservation.”

*********

They did, in fact, make their reservation, if only just on time.

Going to a restaurant on a date may not seem that special when you’d been dating the person for five years.  And, generally, it wasn’t.

But when you factor in the fact that they’d never once actually been able to have a date in a restaurant, it kind of made the whole deal seem a lot more exciting.

Adrien pulled out Marinette’s chair for her, and her grin was nervous as she took her seat.  The restaurant they were in was far more expensive than anything she could have afforded on her own, but Adrien didn’t even seem to glance at the prices as he ordered a bottle of wine that cost several hundred euros for them to share.

Conversation was weird and stilted, filled with stuttering and blushing and a lack of eye contact.  It was awkward as hell, and Marinette hated it.  She hated that revealing their identities had somehow made them revert to a stage that they’d never even had.  Sure, they’d been a little bit blushy and awkward when they first started dating, but they’d discovered pretty quickly that it’s really hard to effectively fight supervillains when making eye contact with your partner makes you turn red and forget what you’d been trying to say.

It took the waiter asking if this was their first date and the mortifying feeling that came with the look he gave them after Adrien told him it was actually their fifth anniversary for Marinette to force herself to snap out of it.

“This is stupid,” she blurted, and, yeah, maybe she could have gone about it more delicately, but she had to make her point.  “We’re not like this, Adrien.  This is awkward as hell, and I’m pretty sure the waiter thinks our relationship has been five years of not talking to each other.  I love you.  It’s not changing whether you’re wearing leather or not, so we shouldn’t be like this.  Knowing who each other is should make things even better, not worse, right?”

Adrien rubbed at the back of his neck, offering an apologetic grin.  “Sorry, I’m just…I’m really nervous,” he admitted.  “I didn’t mean to mess this up.”

“I’m not blaming you!” Marinette quickly interjected, shaking her head excessively.  “I’m definitely responsible for at least half the awkwardness.  I just want us to be able to talk like normal.  Cause we should be able to.  We’ve been able to since we—” She broke off, glancing at the customers being lead past their table.  “—since we found out.  So this shouldn’t be awkward, right?  We shouldn’t let it be awkward.”

Adrien nodded.  “Right,” he agreed, clapping his hands in faux seriousness.  “No more awkwardness allowed starting right now.”

Unfortunately, awkwardness wasn’t usually one to listen to proclamations and disappear just like that.  So Marinette and Adrien sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes, staring at each other and trying to figure out something to say.

Adrien’s laughter came first, spluttering up in an undignified way that would have horrified his family in such a fancy setting.  Marinette’s came a moment later, and it didn’t take long before they were both collapsed against the table, heaving in breaths and earning the stink eye from several other customers.

“We’re being ridiculous,” Adrien managed to gasp, and Marinette spluttered out a vaguely agreeing sound.

They’d calmed down to a reasonable level by the time the waiter returned to take their orders, and the rest of the dinner passed in a much less awkward manner.

*********

Adrien was nervous again.  He couldn’t help it, really, and he could tell that Marinette had noticed.  They’d paid the bill and left the restaurant, huddled together as they made their way down the street.

Marinette was chattering on about how she’d finally finished Alya’s wedding dress at work the other day—apparently the bride kept changing ideas every week or so—and he half listened over the sound of his heart pounding in his ears.

It wasn’t until they’d walked almost all the way back to the apartment that Plagg bit him from inside his pocket, reminding him of what he wanted to do.

“Marinette,” he blurted out, clearly having interrupted whatever she was saying.  He stopped walking, and she did as well, swinging their joined hands and smiling at him.

“Yeah?”

He took a deep breath and let it out again.  “Do you mind if we transform for a bit?” he asked, and Marinette cocked her head in confusion.  “There’s something I had planned for tonight, from before, and I’d still like to do it.”

Her smile grew into a grin.  “Of course!”  She tugged him by his hand, heading in the direction of an alleyway.  “It’s been way too long.  Running would be fantastic.”

Adrien sighed in relief.  So far so good.  They reached a secluded part of the alley, and he turned away as he transformed, hiding the object in his hands from her.

Within minutes, they were tearing across the rooftops, his nerves subsiding in the pure joy of running with his Lady.  He let himself enjoy it for a while, racing Ladybug through the city, before veering off.  It only took her seconds to catch up again, sending him a grin that made his heart skip a beat.

He led her to the Eiffel Tower, because it was where all this started, really, and he didn’t think he’d be able to find the exact street she’d come crashing out of the sky into him.  They stopped when they reached the top, and she turned to stare out over the city as he tried to settle his heartbeat.

She didn’t give him nearly long enough before she turned back, smiling at him and leaning against the rail.

“So, chaton?” she asked.  “What was it you wanted to do?”

Adrien took a deep breath, mentally running over his lines.  He could do this.  He was going to do this.  He wasn’t going to pass out and fall off the tower.  Because that would not be smooth and Marinette would never let him live it down.

He took her hands in his, casting a nervous grin her way at the way they fit together.

“Ladybug, Marinette,” he started.  “Eight years ago, you literally fell out of the sky and into my heart.”  Marinette rolled her eyes, but he could see the blush creeping out from under her mask.  “I fell in love with you.  Not just the superhero that the world saw, but the girl who was scared but fought anyway.

“I fell in love more and more with every day that passed.  When you finally said yes to a date, I’m pretty sure I died.  Honestly, Nino can probably attest to that.”  Marinette giggled, and he gave himself a mental pat on the back.  Somehow he was making words come out around the heart lodged in his throat, and the words were actually making sense.  So far this was going better than Plagg thought it would.

“And then I met Marinette,” he continued.  “And she invited me to stay for cookies and hot chocolate, and let me cry on her shoulder, and she became almost as important in my life as Ladybug.”

She gave him a small smile.  “Chat…”

“I’m not done.”  Adrien shook his head, smoothing his thumbs over the backs of her hands.  Where was he in his speech?  Had he missed parts?  “Finding out that my Lady and my Princess were the same person was the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

He dropped one of her hands, reaching up to unzip his pocket and pull out the little box.  Marinette’s eyes widened and she let out a little scream.

“Oh my god!” she shrieked.  “You’re proposing!”  She dropped the hand that still held hers, throwing her arms around his neck and peppering kisses over his face.  “Yes!  Yes!  Holy shit, yes!”

That sounded promising, and pushed the nerves away enough for Adrien to let out a fond sigh.

“You didn’t even let me finish,” he whined.  “I had a whole speech.”

“I don’t care.”  Marinette was practically vibrating.  “It’s a yes.”

Adrien pouted.  “But I haven’t even asked you anything yet.”

Marinette darted away almost as if she’d been shocked.  She stood there, bouncing on her toes with a wide grin on her face, and waved a hand at him.  “Go on.  Do it.”

Adrien returned her grin, nerves fluttering up once more.  Which was ridiculous.  She’d already said yes, what was there to be nervous about?  He caught one of her hands in his, bringing it to her lips as he sunk to one knee.  Marinette let out a giddy laugh.

“Marinette,” he said. 

A hushed whisper of “Yes” came from her.

“Ladybug.”

“Yes.”

“My Lady.”

_“Yes.”_

“Princess.

“Ye—”

“You know.”  Adrien sighed, raising his eyebrow at the vibrating superhero in front of him.  “If you keep interrupting me, I’m never going to actually be able to ask.”

Marinette’s eyes widened.  “Nope.  I’m done.  I’m not talking.  Who’s talking?  Not me.  I’m quiet.  What are you waiting for?  Keep talking.  Go, go, go.  We don’t have all night here, kitty.”

He grinned up at her.  “Marinette.”  Her ramblings cut off and her face turned almost as red as her suit as she feigned locking up her throat.

“Marinette,” he repeated, opening the ring box and watching her eyes widen.  “Will you meow-ry me?”

“Yes!” she practically screamed, throwing herself at him again and knocking him onto his butt.  “Yes, I’ll marry you!  Of course I will!”

He pulled her against him, and their giddiness made their kisses sloppy, but neither cared.  He understood now what Nino had been talking about months before, about the high he got after proposing to Alya.

Marinette was still shaking from excitement when he pulled away from her.

“Do you want to wear it?” he asked, and he hadn’t thought her grin could get any bigger but somehow it did.

He removed [the ring](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/223420831484160904/visual-search/?x=0&y=0&w=1&h=1) from the box, and slid it onto her finger, pressing a kiss to her knuckles before releasing her hand.  It was a gorgeous ring, if he did say so himself.  The band was twisted, a string of diamonds weaving with one of white gold.  The focal diamond was on the larger side of average, but not so large it looked tacky, and was of some sort of circle cut that Adrien couldn’t be bothered to remember the name of.

Marinette seemed to agree in his assessment, staring down at her hand with an awed look on her face.  Granted, the ring looked a little silly on top of her suit, but they didn’t really care too much about that at the moment.

“Do you like it?” he asked, just to make sure.

“Yes,” she breathed, wrapping her arms around him again.  She placed kisses against his neck, and he let out a sigh.  “I mean, I’d still love it if it was a twist tie or a souvenir from the dentist office, because it came from you.  But this is amazing, Adrien.”

He brought her face up from her neck and caught her lips with his, pressing her against him.  “I love you,” he whispered against her, feeling her smile stretch.

“I love you, too.”


	6. #LuckiestCatInParis

Marinette drifted into consciousness slowly, with the feeling of fingers absently tracing the bare skin of her hip and a loud incessant buzzing.  She peeled her eyes open, smiling sleepily when her vision was filled with the green of Adrien’s.  Her _fiancé_.

“Morning,” she whispered, scooting closer.  The buzzing stopped, and Adrien’s hand moved from her waist to trace her cheek.

“Morning,” he whispered back, closing the distance between them to capture her lips.

She kissed him back, feeling like she was floating in a sea of bliss.  This was Chat Noir, Adrien Agreste, the love of her life.  And she was going to spend the rest of her life with him.

The buzzing returned a minute or two later, and Marinette pulled away, scrunching up her face.  “What is that?”

Her question was answered when her cellphone landed between them, Alya’s face lighting up the screen.  Tikki smiled at them before flying back out of the room.  Marinette hit answer, curling back into Adrien.

“Hello?”

 _“Finally, girl.  I’ve called, like, six times.”_   Alya sounded fondly annoyed.  “ _Don’t tell me you forgot about lunch.”_

“I didn’t,” Marinette said, though it was somewhat of a lie.  She’d kind of forgotten about anything after Adrien’s proposal, so, really, Alya couldn’t blame her.  “We just woke up.  When’s lunch?”

 _“Half an hour ago.”_   Oops.  _“Did Mystery Guy keep you up all night, Mari?”_

“Yes,” Adrien said, tugging her even closer and pressing a kiss against her collarbone.  Alya let out a bark off laughter from the other end of the phone.  “Can we go back to sleep now, Alya?”

“No.”  Marinette poked him in the cheek and he pouted at her.  “If you guys think you can wait, we could be there in—do you think an hour is enough for us to get ready and pick up Addy?”

Adrien kissed her neck.  “Better make it two,” he suggested, kissing her again.  “Picking up babies takes a lot of time.”

Marinette could practically hear Alya rolling her eyes.  “ _Why don’t we switch it up to dinner?  Gives you time to ‘pick up the baby’.”_

Adrien was still kissing up her neck, and Marinette hummed in pleasure.  “Sounds good,” she said, words coming out in a rush.  “See you later.  Bye.”  And she hung up, tossing the phone back on the floor.

“I thought you wanted to go back to sleep,” she pointed out as Adrien’s lips reached her jaw.

He pulled back, a grin so gorgeous on his face that her whole body tingled.  “Why would I want to sleep when I could be kissing my claw-some fiancée?” he wondered, pressing a kiss against her nose.

Marinette let out a breathless giggle, giddiness bubbling up again.  “I can’t believe you proposed with a pun.”  Her voice was breathless, but neither of them really cared.

“You didn’t have any problem with it last night,” Adrien pointed out, kissing along her cheekbone.

“I was kinda too busy freaking out.”  Marinette dug her fingers into his hair.  “To be honest, I’ve always pictured way more cat puns when I’ve thought about you proposing.”

Adrien moved so he could rest on his forearms, leaning above her with a grin.  “You’ve thought about me proposing?”

Marinette flushed.  “Obviously.”

His grin grew.  “There would have been more cat puns,” he admitted, rubbing their noses together, “but _someone_ wouldn’t let me finish my speech.”

She gave him a toothy grin.  “I love you, kitty.”

“I love you, my Lady,” he whispered back, and she tugged him down, their lips sliding together.

*********

Adrien tugged his fiancée— _fiancée_ , she was finally his _fiancée_ —closer as the bell rang above the door to the bakery.

“Baby Guy’s here!” Manon yelled immediately as she vaulted over the counter.  A few of the customers gave her strange looks, but the regulars barely paid her any mind.  “And he’s wearing shoes!  _And_ he’s got Marinette!”  She skidded to a halt within seconds of crashing into Marinette, gazing down with bright eyes.  “ _Please_ can I see it?”

Marinette blinked.  “See what?”

“Your ring!” Manon squealed, and a couple of the regulars glanced over.  “Your parents didn’t want to spoil you getting to show it to them, so they wouldn’t let me see it either and Not Chat Noir wouldn’t secretly show me so I’ve been _dying_ since, like, yesterday because I _need_ to see it.”  She paused in her pleading, staring down Marinette.  “You did say yes, right?  Cause Baby Guy is pretty hot and he used to be a model, so you’d be an idiot to say no.”

Adrien felt himself flush, but was saved by Sabine.

“Manon, stop hounding the poor girl,” she called, emerging from the back with Adeline in her arms and Tom behind her.  “What part of let her break the news herself did you not understand?”

Manon huffed out a sigh.  “They were taking too long.”

“We literally just walked in the door,” Adrien protested, but Marinette didn’t really seem to care about Manon ruining their moment, pushing past the younger girl to her parents and peeling off her mittens.

“Oh, Marinette, it’s gorgeous!” Sabine gushed, clutching her daughter’s hand with the one that didn’t hold Adeline.  “Adrien has good taste.”

“Of course he does if he’s dating a Dupain-Cheng,” Tom added.

Manon was squealing, bringing the attention of the regulars, who came over to see what the big deal was.  She was jostled out of the way, and turned back to Adrien, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Good job,” she said, nodding at him.  “Keep it up, and you might earn your name, Baby Guy.”

Adrien blinked at her.  “Wait.  Why do I have to earn my name?”

Manon just grinned at him with too many teeth before bounding away at the call of a customer who wanted to pay.  Adrien stared after her in confusion—what had he managed to do to Manon that made him have to earn his own name?—but could only do so for a moment before he was being wrapped up in a tight hug.

“Congratulations, Adrien,” Tom said, and Adrien just blinked up at his future father-in-law for a moment.  He was…hugging him?  Because he was happy?  And Adrien wasn’t even his son.  The only time he could actually remember his own father hugging him in the years after his mother’s death and before his own was after an akuma attack.

But Tom was hugging him because he was happy, because he was excited for Marinette and for Adrien.

It was…strange.  But a good kind.

“Thanks, M. Dupain-Cheng,” Adrien said, grinning and awkwardly returning the hug.

“Tom’s fine.”  He grinned back.  “You’re part of the family now, kid.  No need to be so formal.”

Part of the family?  Adrien’s smile widened, and he looked over in Marinette’s direction.  She was caught in the middle of a large group composed mostly of elderly women, all chattering on at once so that he wasn’t sure how she could possibly understand them.  He could have sworn Sabine was crying, and Manon had gotten away from the till again and was loudly insisting on being a bridesmaid.  Marinette caught his eye and returned his grin, biting her lip.

“Part of the family,” he repeated under his breath.  Yeah.  He’d like that.

*********

“So how was your anniversary date?” Alya asked, leaning forward on her elbows over the table.

The five of them were gathered around a table in a diner, Alya having claimed Adeline on her lap for now.

“It was good,” Marinette said, running her left hand over her forehead and pushing her bangs out of her eyes in ridiculously slow motion.  She and Adrien had decided to see how long it took their friends to catch on, as neither knew what Adrien had had planned for the night before.  “The restaurant had really good food, and the wine was delightful.”  She dragged the hand along the side of her face, and Adrien let out a snort.  Nino’s eyes widened as he clearly clued in, eyes darting to Adrien as a smile bloomed on his face.  She caught her fiancé pressing a finger to his lips.

Alya, however, was completely ignorant.  And kind of confused.

“What are you doing with your hand?”

Marinette cupped her chin, tapping her fingers against her cheek.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Nino and Adrien seemed to be having a silent conversation with their eyes, as Marinette brushed her hand across her face in increasingly dramatic ways.

“Seriously, Mari.”  Alya frowned at her friend, pressing the sleeping baby against her chest.  “What are you doing?  Are you trying to tell me I have something on my face?”  Her friend just smirked, lying her forearm across her forehead and wagging her fingers.  “What is—Oh my god!  Is that a ring?”

She squealed loudly and grabbed Marinette’s hand, all but dragging her across the table.

“Could you have been a bit more subtle, Marinette?” Nino grinned, stretching his hand out for a fist bump with Adrien.  “Congrats, dudes.”

“Oh my god, Marinette!” Alya all but shrieked.  “This is gorgeous, girl!  I’m gonna be your maid of honour, right?”

“Obviously.”  Like there was any doubts.

“Wait,” Nino said, eyes darting to Marinette’s hand.  “Let me see that.”  He pulled her hand over, much more gently than Alya had, and looked between her ring and Adrien for a few long moments before letting out a bark of laughter.  “Holy shit, man.  It’s actually the same ring.”

Adrien looked mildly offended and slightly embarrassed.  “Of course it is.”

“Nino!”  Alya smacked her fiancé in the shoulder.  “You knew about this and you didn’t tell me?”

Nino shook his head.  “I didn’t know he was planning to propose last night,” he assured her.  “If I knew he was gonna do it anytime soon, I definitely would have told you, babe.”  He stared down at the ring again.  “I really can’t believe this, Adrien.”

“What are you talking about?” Marinette wondered.  The same ring?  What did that mean?  Had Nino helped Adrien pick it out?  And then thought he was going to get a new one?

Nino released her hand, planting his elbows on the table and resting his chin on his fists.  “Adrien,” he said, giving his friend a shit eating grin, “tell your fiancée how long you’ve had that ring for.”

Adrien turned red and ran a hand through his hair.  “Nino…”

“No, I’m curious now.”  Alya mirrored her future husband’s position as best as she could while holding the baby, eyeing the newest addition to their group.  “How long have you been planning to propose to Mari?  When did you ask Nino to help you pick out a ring?  Cause he’s never mentioned it to me before.”

Adrien let out a sigh, turning to face Marinette.  “Do you remember the first time I asked you to go out for hot chocolate and you actually said yes?”

Marinette nodded slowly.  “Of course.”

“Nino helped me pick out the ring the next day.”

Nino started to laugh, Alya joining in a moment later.  But Marinette?  Marinette just stared at him, mouth slightly open in awe.

“You’ve…you’ve been planning to propose to me since we were seventeen?” she asked, voice barely more than a whisper.

“No.”  Adrien shook his head, a sheepish smile on his face.  Marinette’s eyebrows scrunched up a bit, because wasn’t that what he’d just said?  Why was he denying it?  “I’ve been planning to propose to you since the day we met.  The chances of you actually agreeing just rose exponentially when we were seventeen.”

Marinette stared at him, a smile slowly surfacing on her face.  She didn’t think she could fall anymore in love with him, but then he goes and says stuff like that.  Sure, she’d thought about marrying him over the years.  Dreamed about it, really.  But he’d actually gone out and bought a ring?  Before they’d even had their first date?

Adrien was smiling back, and they stared into each other eyes.  Marinette tried to think back to what she’d done after deciding to finally ignore Tikki’s warnings about how dating her partner would be a bad idea.  She’d been well on her way to being in love, she remembered, despite how hard she tried to repress it.  But what did she do?  She didn’t go out and get a ring.  She just went to school, and—

She let out a burst of laughter, and Adrien’s smile turned hesitant.

“What’s wrong?”

“I just—oh, god,” Marinette spluttered, gripping Adrien’s arm to keep upright.  “Alya, do you remember when Nino came to school completely appalled with his friend because he’d made him help pick out an engagement ring for a girl he hadn’t even been on a date with yet?”

“Wait—what?” Adrien blinked, glancing between his fiancée and Nino, who was still snickering.

“I do!”  Alya let out a howl of laughter, clutching Adeline tight against her.  “Oh, I forgot about that!  Adrien, we laughed at you all day.  We thought you were absolutely ridiculous and that there was no way you’d be with the girl long enough to get married.

“Nino was sure you’d lose it or break up with me before you had a chance to use it,” Marinette added, pressing her forehead into his shoulder as she shook with giggles.

“Nino!” Adrien sent his friend a betrayed look.  “I thought you had my back!”

Nino shook his head.  “No way, man.  You were insane.”  Adrien pouted.  “Come on, dude.  Sure, you’d gotten her to agree on a date, but you hadn’t even been on the date.  I was sure there was no way you’d actually get engaged to her.”

Adrien’s pout turned into a triumphant smirk, and he peeled Marinette’s hand off his arm, thrusting it into Nino’s face and waving it around in victory.  “Well, I proved you wrong, didn’t I?”  He waved Marinette’s hand in Alya’s direction as well, and, when his fiancée raised her head, poked her in the nose.  “I proved you all wrong!”

Nino snorted and rolled his eyes.  “Sure, dude,” he agreed, laughing as Marinette reclaimed her hand.  “But beware the best man speech.  Your cool ex-model-ness is going out the window once everyone realizes what a dork you are.”

“I’m not a dork.”  Adrien feigned hurt, clutching his hand to his chest.  “I’m romantic.”

Nino’s eyebrow rose, and he picked up his glass of water.  “Keep telling yourself that.”

“I am!” he insisted, turning to look at Marinette.  “I’m romantic, right?”

She giggled.  “Super romantic.”  It sounded kind of sarcastic, but he was going to take it anyway, turning back to smirk at Nino.

“See?  I’m romantic.”

Alya leaned forward, resting her chin on her open palm.  “Speaking of romantic,” she said, eyeing the newly engaged couple, “how’d this thing go down?”

Marinette grinned, glancing over at Adrien.  “Well,” she said, “I’m pretty sure he almost forgot.”

Adrien gasped.  “Did not.”

His fiancée raised an eyebrow.  “So we walked almost all the way home so you could, what?  Psych me out?”

“Fine,” Adrien grumbled, lip stuck out in a pout.  “Maybe I almost forgot.”

Nino snorted, leaning across the table to pat his friend’s hand.  “You’re right,” he said.  “This is sounding super romantic so far.”  Adrien stuck his tongue out at him.

“So after something triggered his memory,” Marinette continued, “we went for a walk and ended up at the Eiffel Tower.”

Alya nodded.  “Cheesy and clichéd.  I like it.”

“It was where we first met, actually.”  Kind of.

Alya’s eyebrows rose.  “I don’t think I’ve actually heard how you met,” she pointed out.

Marinette shrugged.  “It’s not that exciting.”  Because fighting a supervillain was definitely not exciting.  “I ran into him.”

“Literally,” Adrien added.

Alya snorted.  “Of course you did.”  She shook her head.  “I want that full story later, but back to the proposal.  You’re under the Eiffel Tower.  Go.”

Marinette turned to share a smile with him.  “He started talking and it was mushy and cheesy and wonderful.”

Adrien smiled back, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.  “And it would have been even more mushy and cheesy and wonderful if you’d actually let me finish my speech.”

“She didn’t let you finish?” Alya questioned, a grin spreading across her face.

Adrien shook his head.  “She said yes before I even asked the question.”  He smirked at Marinette.  “Jumped on me, too.”

Marinette stuck out her tongue.  “Maybe if you wanted to finish your speech you shouldn’t have taken the ring out so early,” she pointed out.

“Maybe—” Adrien broke off, trying to think of a good argument and coming up short.  “Maybe that would have been a good idea.”

His friends laughed, and Marinette squeezed his hand, and the waitress came around with their food.

Nino stabbed a potato onto his fork, brandishing it in the air.  “To Adrien and Marinette,” he said.  “May they have the cheesiest, dorkiest marriage ever.”

*********

It was a few days later when Adrien woke before Marinette.  He sat up in bed, smiling down at his fiancée as she slept.  He crept out bed without waking her and plucked Plagg from the cradle.

“What do you want?” the kwami grumbled as his chosen made his way into the living room.

“I need to transform,” Adrien said.  “Just for a couple minutes, okay?  And then you can go back to sleep.”

Plagg let out a string of something unintelligible, but waved Adrien on to transform.

He pulled his baton off his waist as he returned to the bedroom, opening the camera feature.  A moment later, he was studying the picture on the screen, smiling at the sight of his fiancée and checking for any identity revealing details.

Finding none, his thumbs typed out a quick message and sending it off.  He dropped his transformation again, smiling in thanks as his kwami dove back into the cradle, and crawled back into bed.

Marinette stirred, turning over to face him.  “Kitty, what?” she murmured.

“Shh,” he whispered, smoothing a hand over her hair and pulling her close to him.  “It’s all good, Mari.  Go back to sleep.”

“What were you doing?” she asked, voice thick with sleep and eyes not bothering to open.

“I was Twittering.”  He pressed a kiss against her temple, and felt her cuddle closer.

“It’s called Tweeting, nerd.”

*********

They were cuddled up on the couch, waiting for the news to come on.  Adrien was feeding Adeline, and Marinette had a bowl of cereal in her hands.  It was ridiculously domestic, and she loved it.

After a ridiculously bizarre experience of a perfume commercial—and Adrien’s reassurances that they were even more awkward to be a part of than to just watch—the news came on, the faces of the news anchors filling the screen.

_“Good morning, Paris.  I’m Maelee Bordeaux.”_

_“And I’m Jean Roux.”_

_“Our top story this morning concerns everyone’s favourite superheroes.”_

_“Ah, yes, their baby is adorable.  Have we gotten any news on it?  Gender?  Name?  How Ladybug managed to keep her pregnancy a secret while fighting akumas?”_

“What about confirmation that Ladybug actually gave birth in the first place?” Marinette rolled her eyes at Adrien, who was making faces at Adeline as she drank her bottle.  “Because I’ve definitely never given birth.  And I think a pregnancy would be pretty noticeable in that suit.”

“But Tante Mari would still look hot,” Adrien cooed in a ridiculous voice, scrunching his nose up at his niece.  One of Adeline’s tiny fists reached up to him, and he let her grab his finger.  “Yes, she would.”

_“Actually, Jean, today’s news has nothing to do with the baby.  It seems Paris’s Power Couple is making all sorts of advancements in their relationship lately.  From what Chat Noir tweeted this morning, it looks like wedding bells are in their future.”_

Marinette turned back to the television, scrunching up her nose.  “Chat Noir twee—” She broke off, gasping as a picture of herself took up the screen.  She was on her stomach in bed, the sheet pulled up to her shoulder blades.  Her hair was splayed out on the pillow, and the angle Adrien had taken the picture at kept it so the only part of her face visible was part of her nose and mouth, a slight smile on her lips.  The morning sun streamed in through the window just right to make her almost glow.  Her left hand was on the pillow near her face, and the glint of sun off her ring finger was enough to skew the details of the ring but not what it meant.  She looked gorgeous, and she really wished he’d used a different picture.  That was forever Ladybug.  She couldn’t gush over how good she looked with Alya, unless she wanted to pretend they weren’t talking about her.

But it was the caption that had the reporters—and, apparently, the rest of Paris—freaking out, scrawled across the bottom of the screen with the ridiculous kittens in Santa hats that served as Chat’s profile picture.

_Had a purr-fect night with the future Mme. Noir. We’ll let her sleep a little longer #SheSaidYes #LuckiestCatInParis_

She caught Adrien’s eye, her face stretching into a smile that matched his as her fingers played with her ring.  Whether it was the future Mme. Noir or the future Mme. Agreste, she was his and he was hers and she couldn’t be happier.

In all honestly, it was a miracle that Alya hadn’t bombarded her with the news yet. Because that was clearly an engagement announcement if she’d ever seen one.

Her phone buzzed on the coffee table, her best friend’s face lighting up the screen.  Spoke too soon.

*********

It was another two weeks before an akuma attack, which was probably the longest there had ever been between attacks.  Marinette and Adrien’s moods fluctuated between being worried that Hawkmoth was planning something big, and being weirdly flattered that he was putting so much consideration into a baby gift.

Adeline dropped off with the Gorilla, they headed into battle, rounding on the villain that was loudly proclaiming herself la Donneuse in the middle of the crowded Place de la Concorde.

“I am not here for a fight today,” la Donneuse called, turning to face the heroes in her gaudily gift wrapped outfit.  The butterfly outline shone brightly in front of her face.  Marinette and Adrien skidded to a stop, warily deciding to trust the akuma’s—or Hawkmoth’s—words for now.

“I would have thought you’d have more respect for me, Ladybug and Chat Noir,” the akuma continued.  “It took me weeks to figure out the perfect baby present, and, when I finally had it ready, you’re announcing your engagement.”  La Donneuse paced back and forth, arms gesturing wildly as she spoke Hawkmoth’s words.  “What kind of an acquaintance would I be if I didn’t get you an engagement present?”

Marinette raised her eyebrows, refusing to look at Adrien on the principal that she’d burst into laughter if she did.  “I didn’t realize we were acquaintances, Hawkmoth.”

La Donneuse stopped her pacing to stare at the heroes.  “Of course we’re acquaintances!” she yelled, voice appalled.  “We’ve known each other for eight years!  We’re acquaintances at the very least!”  Her hands went to her hips and she stomped her feet with a huff.  “Honestly, I should really be getting an invitation to your wedding with how close we are.”

“No,” Adrien deadpanned.

The akuma sighed.  “I figured as much.”  She gestured to two fairly large boxes, wrapped in purple butterfly wrapping paper, that sat on the ground near her.  “For your baby and your engagement.  They could break, so be careful with them, but neither is a trick nor has a tracking device.  I don’t need to cheat to win.  I wish you well, and I hope you’ll give me notice next time you decide to have a child.”

And with that, la Donneuse faded away, a purified butterfly escaping from her headband, and a confused teenage girl was left in her place.

“What happened?” she mumbled, looking around.  Her eyes widened as they lit on the heroes.  “Oh no.  I was an akuma, wasn’t I?  Did I—”

“You didn’t do anything,” Marinette cut her off, lying a hand on her shoulder.  “Hawkmoth just transformed you to deliver a baby present.”

The girl’s face scrunched up, seeming even more confused than when she’d been purified.  “Why?”

Marinette just shrugged, and the girl wandered off towards her family.  She turned back to Adrien, raising her eyebrows.

“Let’s go open our presents,” he suggested, stooping to pick one up.  Marinette followed his lead, and they ran across the rooftops, stopping at a place far enough from their apartment to not be suspicious.

The baby present was a set of plastic Ladybug and Chat Noir dishes, and a gorgeous glass butterfly mobile.  The engagement present was purple bedsheets adorned with butterflies, and an antique china tea set.

After a thorough search, they couldn’t find anything that could possibly be a tracking device, so they replaced the items in their boxes and headed home, wondering why—and how—their archenemy would spend so much money on them.

*********

Marinette caught Adrien’s eye across the altar, smiling at him.  He looked amazing, in tan coloured slacks and a blue dress shirt.  He grinned back, and she fiddled with the flowers in her hands.  She should probably be listening to what the minster was saying, honestly, but in all honesty it didn’t make much of a difference whether or not she heard what was going on.  As long as she got the ring out at the right moment, it would all be good.

Adrien’s eyes sparkled, and unspoken conversations passed from them to hers.  The wedding around them fell away, fading into the background as they soaked in one another.  Adrien was dressed in khaki coloured pants and a light purple button up, with black suspenders and a black bow tie, the same outfit that Ivan, Kim, and Nino’s cousin Adil wore behind him.  Marinette was torn between scorning her fiancé’s crooked bow tie with the eyes of a fashion designer and thinking it looked absolutely charming.  Honestly, she wouldn’t have expected any less from her kitty.

Marinette, in turn, was wearing a dress of the same purple that she’d made herself, twisting around the bust in a sweetheart neckline and flowing loosely around her knees.  Alya’s fifteen year old sisters, Taryn and Rory, were wearing the same, as well as Nino’s older sister Zita.  They held bouquets of purple and white flowers that Adrien couldn’t remember the name of, and his eyes were drawn to the ones woven into Marinette’s hair, his _fiancée’s_ hair.

It’d been a little over a month since they’d gotten engaged, and Adrien could still hardly believe it.  He loved her with all his heart.  He always had, and he always would.  But it still felt like he was walking through a dream, waking up to his Lady every morning with the promise of forever sparkling on her finger, and that he’d wake up at any moment back alone in the mansion.

They were snapped back to the present by a sudden cheer, and grinned at the sight of Alya holding Nino in a dip, their lips locked together, and joined in on clapping for their friends.

The newlyweds pulled apart, Nino righting himself to his full height, and the minister spread her arms wide.  Alya and Nino ran hand in hand down the aisle to a new cheer, the minister’s words echoing over them.

“I’m pleased to announce for the very first time Madame and Monsieur Alya and Nino Lahiffe!”

 


	7. Red for the Living, White for the Dead

Marinette had gone to work, and Adrien was left with Adeline for the day.  She’d be home late that afternoon, and then they’d be heading to her parents’ for dinner.  There was a reason for the dinner, he was pretty sure, but he really couldn’t remember what it was.

“You ready for our day?” Adrien cooed down at Adeline.  She was cuddled in his arms, chugging down her bottle like there was no tomorrow, and had an iron grip on his shirt.  “We’re gonna go get groceries, and we’re gonna pick up some yummy food for you, and Tante Mari wants us to get her some more material, and we’re gonna have lots of fun, right Addy?”

Adeline didn’t answer, not that Adrien really expected her to.  At a week away from being six months old, she was babbling a lot, but her bottle was clearly a lot more enticing than the conversation.  Plagg claimed to be able to communicate with her, but even Tikki called bullshit on that, so Adrien didn’t entirely believe his kwami.

“You sound like an idiot, kid,” Plagg pointed out, pausing in his harrowing task of making faces at the baby from his chosen’s shoulder.  “I’ve told you before, you gotta talk to her like she’s a person, not a puppy.”

He made another face, and, though Adrien didn’t see it, it must have been especially hilarious as it caused Adeline to burst into laughter, spluttering formula all over her face.  Adrien sat her up before she could choke, lying the bottle aside and wiping off her mouth with the receiving blanket.

“I read that they respond better to certain tones,” he said, still in his baby voice, trying to encourage Adeline to latch on again.  “I’m pretty sure baby books are a better source of information that grumpy cats.”

Adeline gurgled out a few syllables as she dodged the bottle, and Plagg groaned.

“Don’t you agree with him,” he said, swooping down into her face.  “I’m on your side here, kid.”  He barely batted an eye at the fist to the face he received, turning back to Adrien.  “I know more about babies than all those stupid books combined.  Which one of us has raised hundreds of babies, me or the book?  Me, that’s right.  Not to mention I can actually understand her.”

Adrien gave up, seeing as how there wasn’t much left in the bottle anyway, and pulled his niece onto his shoulder to burp.  “Are you wanting to eat something, Baby Whisperer?” he asked.  “Cause we’re leaving as soon as she burps.”

Plagg started to zip off towards the kitchen, halting with a laugh as Adeline let out a belch.  “I think you mean we’re leaving as soon as you change your shirt,” he pointed out.  “Unless spit up is in right now.”

Adrien groaned and sent a glare at the receiving blanket that lay on the next cushion, mocking him.  “Just eat your camembert.”

*********

Adrien made faces down at the stroller as they walked down the sidewalk.  Adeline had Plagg in her fist—Adrien hadn’t felt like arguing when he’d decided to pretend to be a toy today—and was waving him around by his tail as she babbled at Adrien.

“That’s really interesting, Addy,” he cooed, smiling at a couple that passed.  Plagg broke out of character to roll his eyes at his chosen and his apparently wrong interpretation of Adeline’s babbles.  “You know what, Addy?  I think Plagg isn’t gonna be so smug when you get teeth and still use him as a chew toy.”

Plagg scowled at him for a moment before molding his features back into the face of a toy as an older woman holding a large bouquet of red roses leaned over to coo at Adeline.

“Your baby is adorable,” she said, and Adrien stopped walking to smile at her.  “How old is she?”

They were by an outdoor flower shop, people swirling around and pointing out different flowers.  Adrien eyed a bouquet of sunflowers, wondering if he should pick it up for Marinette’s parents for tonight.

“Almost six months,” he answered, and Adeline let out something that sounded like an agreement.

The woman smiled, pulling a rose from her bouquet and holding it out to Adrien.  “My husband can do with one less rose.”  Adrien drew his eyebrows together in confusion, folding his fingers around the flower hesitantly and mumbling something in thanks.  Her smile grew and she patted his shoulder.  “Bonne Fête des Pères.”

She walked away, leaving Adrien frozen on the sidewalk, staring down at the rose in his hand.  Why had she wished him a happy Father’s Day?  That didn’t make sense.  He wasn’t a father.  Why would she think—?

His eyes snapped to Adeline, widening with growing horror.  He forced his breath to remain even as he stuffed the rose into the diaper bag.  Fingers tightly gripping the stroller handle, he started walking, as if he could outwalk what just happened, and vowed to push the rose out of his mind.

*********

He was actually doing pretty well at forgetting the rose as he browsed the grocery store, Adeline in the shopping cart sucking on the leg of a stuffed giraffe and the stroller folded up underneath.  They’d made it through most of the shopping list before he stopped in front of the baby food.  He and Marinette had decided to start transitioning Adeline onto purees, and Plagg buzzed around his head, as apparently which flavours he bought was more crucial than keeping his identity a secret.

“You should just buy her some camembert,” he suggested, and Adrien rolled his eyes, judging the merits of mushed peas versus mushed carrots.

“Aren’t you the one who claims to be the baby expert?” he pointed out.  “She wouldn’t be able to handle camembert.  _I_ can’t even handle camembert.”

Plagg rolled his eyes, floating over to land on the handle of the cart facing Adeline.  “He’s stuck on peas or carrots,” he said, voice serious.  “Which do you want?”  Adeline let out a string of syllables, and Plagg cocked his head.  “Well, peas are kind of green and circle-y, and carrots are long and they grow in the dirt.  I mean, they both look like mush right now, but that’s what they usually look like.”  He nodded as Adeline babbled some more, and turned back to Adrien, who was watching with raised eyebrows.  “She thinks they both sound gross.”

Adrien sighed, but placed both jars back on the shelf.  “What do you recommend then, baby expert?”

The kwami turned back to the baby.  “Do you trust me to pick the good stuff?” he asked, and Adeline babbled something that must have been a confirmation because Plagg was then flying at the shelf.

“Yams.”  A jar came flying and Adrien barely caught it.  “Apple banana.  Apple.  Pear.  Squash.  Apricot.”  Plagg turned around, eyeing his stash in his chosen’s arms and nodding.  “Those are usually the favourites from my experience.  I’ll let you know what she likes.”

Adrien shook his head, dumping the jars into the cart and grabbing a couple other varieties.  It didn’t really make sense to buy a lot of one flavour if it turned out Adeline didn’t like it. 

“Right,” he said, nodding at the kwami and the baby.  “I think we’ve got enough here.  Now we just need some vegetables and then we’re good to go.”

Plagg darted back into his pocket as they exited the deserted aisle, and Adeline started babbling again, hand waving the giraffe around in the air.  Unfortunately her grip wasn’t as good as it could have been, and the giraffe went sailing towards the ground.

In another feat of chat-like reflexes, Adrien caught the toy before it could get dirty, leveling his giggling niece with a disapproving look.

“You’ve got to be more careful, Addy,” he told her, returning the giraffe to Adeline’s waiting hands.  “Tante Mari worked hard to make M. Girafe for you, and she wouldn’t be happy if you lost him.”

A man digging through a mountain of apples nearby laughed, adjusting the toddler on his hip.  “You’ve got it easy at that age,” he said, and Adrien repressed a chuckle at the way the man tilted his head to avoid the fist being shoved in his ear.  “Once she starts walking, you’ll never get a moment of peace.”

“That’s what I’ve heard.”  He recalled the horror stories he’d heard of Marinette’s terrible twos—and threes and fours—and smiled in a way that was probably more of a grimace.

The man finished filling his bag with apples and turned to Adrien with a grin.  “Bonne Fête des Pères.  The first one is always great.”

Adrien blinked, the diaper bag feeling heavy on his shoulder with the weight of the rose and his gut sinking in dread.

“I’m not her father,” he blurted, and the man just shrugged.

“Sorry about that.”  He walked away, leaving Adrien alone with the threat of a panic attack in the middle of the produce section.

And it happened again and again.  The teenager restocking the lettuces.  The cashier.  The woman and her three children he offered his cart to.  Random people on the side walk.  All repeating those same four words.  The same lie.

Bonne Fête des Pères.

He wasn’t a father, and he definitely wasn’t Adeline’s father.  Felix was her father.  Adrien may be the one raising her, but Felix was her father.  Not him.  He couldn’t be.  He couldn’t take that away from Felix, not now and not ever.  He was her uncle, her godfather, but he wouldn’t be her father.

He could feel Plagg vibrating with purrs in his shirt, trying to comfort him, but he ignored it as he pushed the bag laden stroller down the street.  Why today?  Why did everyone decide that today was the day to assume he was Adeline’s father?  It’d been almost four months since Felix and Bridgette had…and he could count on one hand how many times random strangers had mistaken him as her father before today.  What was—

“A rose for a dad on la Fête des Pères?”

The florist probably didn’t mean anything by it.  Honestly, the red rose he was holding out was probably meant entirely innocently.  But it was one too many, and Adrien snapped.

“I’m not her father!”  His voice was too loud, too angry, too crazed, and he forced himself to take a deep breath and apologize.

The florist didn’t seem too put out, waving off Adrien’s apologies with the rose still held between them.  “Take it for the father then,” he insisted.  “The flower is on me.”

Maybe another day Adrien would have politely declined and been on his way.  But he was just so done with this whole day that what came out instead was a deadpanned, “Her father is dead.”

The man blinked at him for a moment, before replacing the rose in its container.  “Perhaps a white one then?” he suggested.

Adrien stared, mouth opening and closing silently as Felix’s words from so long ago repeated in his head, the answer to why they always got white roses for Grandpère on la Fête des Pères when white was the most boring colour.

_Red for the living, white for the dead._

*********

A split second decision and an awkward run over the rooftops with a stroller and groceries later found Adrien with Plagg on his shoulder and Adeline and two overlarge bouquets of white roses in his arms.

He stared down at the headstone, the carved words as cold as the man who lay beneath.

“Hello, Père,” he said.  “Bonne Fête des Pères, I guess.  I know…I know I haven’t really come to see you in a while.  I’ve been good, mostly.  I moved in with Marinette, and that’s really nice.  I think you’d like her.  I hope you would, anyway.  She’s really amazing.  She’s brave and smart and kind and gorgeous, and she’s a really great designer.  I think her designs would actually impress you.

“I finally proposed to her.”  He smiled, fiddling with the stem of a rose.  “She said yes, Père.  She wants to marry me.  The wedding’s in August, and it’s going to be beautiful.  I wish you and Mère could be there, though.  And Felix.” He sighed, eyes darting to the ground.  “I miss you, but I’m happy.  I’m happy with Marinette, and my friends, and getting to do what I want.

“So yeah.”  Adrien shuffled his feet, lying a bouquet by the headstone.  “I just wanted to let you know that I’m doing well, and I brought you some flowers.  So, uh, talk to you later, Père.”

He let out his breath through his nose as he stepped away from the grave, Adeline quietly gumming her fist in his arms.  Why was it that it was just as difficult to talk to his father now as it was when he was alive?  It felt like he was still judging everything he did with that disappointed stare.

He pushed his father out of his mind, readjusting Adeline on his hip as he walked through the graveyard.  It was silly, really.  His father wasn’t judging him, couldn’t be from six feet under.  He was just being paranoid.

Adrien stopped walking, staring down at the thin layer of grass over two fairly fresh graves.

“Hey, Felix.”  His voice was hardly more than a whisper.  “A lot of people have been giving me roses today, red ones, cause they think she’s my daughter.”  He let out a humourless laugh.  “She’s not, Fe.  She’s yours.  You’re her father, not me.  It should be you getting roses today.”  He pressed his forearm into his eyes, Adeline giggling as the roses brushed against her head.  “It’s so hard, Felix.  I wasn’t ready to take care of Addy.  I’m still not.  And I miss you.  I miss you so much.”

Adrien paused to breath, bending down to rest the roses against the stone, freeing his hand to wipe at his eyes.  He stayed crouching, running a hand over Adeline’s blond curls.

“This is where your papa is, Addy,” he said, his voice catching in his throat.  Adeline stared up at him with wide eyes.  “His name was Felix, and he was a great man.  He loved you very much.  So did your mama.”  He closed his eyes, breathing deeply, before looking to Adeline again.  “I wish they were still around to be with you, Addy.  I know they’d want to be, too.”  He broke off, blinking away the tears in his eyes.  “Plagg?”

The kwami had been quiet, resting in the nook of his chosen’s neck.  He flew out at the sound of his name, wide eyes staring solemnly up.  “Yeah?”

“Does she—does she understand?”  The look in Adrien’s eyes was so hopeful as Adeline babbled out a few syllables, Plagg nodding along.

“Yeah, kid,” he said.  “She understands.”

*********

Marinette called out a greeting as she closed the apartment door, tossing her keys into the bowl resting nearby.  Adrien’s answer came from the living room, and she wandered into the kitchen, dropping the red bouquet and her purse on the counter.  She frowned at the single, crumpled rose lying near the stove, plucking it up and twirling the bent stem in her fingers.

“Where’d this rose come from?”

Adrien didn’t answer for a long moment.  “A woman.”

Her frown deepened, though she couldn’t make out anything from the back of Adrien’s head over the couch.  “Okay,” she said slowly.  “Do you want me to put it in water?  Or are you just gonna let it stay here to die?”

“I don’t care.”

Marinette stared a moment louder, before pulling a vase out of the cupboard and filling it with water.  She stuck in the rose and crossed the room, leaning over the back of the couch.  Adrien was staring down at his lap, fingers twisting together.  Adeline was on the carpet, throwing blocks at Plagg.

“Are you okay?”

Adrien jolted before looking up at her.  There was a pause where he seemed to decide what to say.

“Yeah,” he finally answered.  “Just...Felix stuff today.”

Marinette nodded in understanding.  “You still up for dinner?” she wondered.  “I can tell my parents you had plans.”

Adrien shook his head.  “I want to go.”

“Okay.”  Marinette pushed off the couch, heading towards the bedroom.  “I’m just gonna change and we’ll head out in a bit, okay?”

Adrien nodded, and she ducked into their bedroom, digging through the closet for something to wear.  She emerged a minute later, a pink blouse in one hand and a blue one in the other.

“Which shirt should I wear tonight?”

Adrien glanced up from his phone with a shrug, but it was Plagg who answered.

“Blue.”

Marinette raised an eyebrow at Plagg’s sudden fashion interest, but the kwami seemed more engrossed in Adeline’s sudden bought of babbling.

“Are you sure?” he asked, and Marinette’s eyes darted to Adrien’s in doubt.  “The blue would match her eyes.”  Adeline babbled something else.  “No, yeah, you’re right.  That would look good.”  He turned back to Marinette.  “Adeline thinks the pink with that black skirt you wore to Alya’s birthday.”

Tikki flew in from the kitchen.  “You know you can’t actually understand her, right?”

“You’re just jealous that I’m better than you at something.”

Fifteen minutes later, Marinette was dressed in the pink blouse and the black skirt from Alya’s birthday because, whether Plagg could understand babies or not, it was good fashion advice.

The bakery was closed when they arrived, and Marinette chuckled under her breath at the way Adrien sighed in relief.  Manon loved him, but there was no way he’d let him know anytime soon.

Tom greeted them at the door, and Marinette adjusted Adeline on her hip as they were engulfed in a hug.

“Bonne Fête des Pères, Papa!” she said, pulling out of his arms and offering him the roses.

“Merci, Marinette!” Tom accepted the flowers and swept them into the house.  “How was work today?”

She sighed, going off on a rant about the suppliers that missed half her order.  She was so engrossed in the conversation that she barely noticed her mother entering the room, a large bouquet of red roses in her grasp.  She barely heard the words she said with a grin, offering the flowers to Adrien.

It was the look of horror that flashed on his face that made her stumble in her words, his spluttered denials and waving hands.

And then he was running, the door slamming closed behind him.

Marinette shared a shocked look with her parents, muttering a quick apology and readjusting Adeline before taking off after her fiancé.

*********

Adrien collapsed on a bench in the park near Marinette’s parents’ house, sobs wracking his body.  Why?  Why would Sabine give him roses, like they should be celebrating him today?  Why was everyone so damn sure that he was Adeline’s dad?  Because he wasn’t.  He was her uncle and her godfather, and that was all he was ever going to be.  Felix should be the one celebrating with his daughter today, and it wasn’t fair that he couldn’t be.

Marinette sunk down beside him, wrapping the arm that wasn’t holding Adeline around his shoulders and pulling him against her.  She rubbed his arm as he cried himself out, curling into her side.

“I’m not her father,” he whispered as the tears slowed down.  “Felix is.  But all day people keep thinking I am and it’s just…” He broke off shaking his head, but it seemed enough for Marinette to understand.

“I know it’s hard, chaton,” she said, squeezing him tightly.  “But Felix is gone.  He’s always gonna be her father, but you’re the one who’s going to raise her.  You can make sure she knows how great he was, but you’re the one she’s going to look up to.  You’re the one she’s going to make cards for in school.  You’re the one who’s going to teach her how to ride a bike, the one who bandages her cuts when she falls and scrapes her knee.  Felix is always going to be her father, Adrien, but you’re the one she’s going to see as her dad.”

Adrien didn’t look up, running her words through his head.  He couldn’t do this.  He couldn’t be Adeline’s dad, could he?  It wasn’t fair to Felix.  Nothing was fair with Felix.

Adeline wriggled in Marinette’s grasp, stretching up to grab a handful of Adrien’s hair.

“Babagamana,” she babbled as Marinette released his shoulder to pry her fingers from his hair.  “Papapa!”

Adrien blinked at the baby, his heart rising into his throat.  Logically, he knew she couldn’t be actually talking yet, that she was just babbling.  He’d read enough baby books to know that.

But after the day he had, Adeline unintentionally echoing everything he’d been denying was too much.

“I’m not—I’m not your Papa, Addy,” he whispered, shaking his head.  “I’m not.”

“Papapapa.”  Adeline accented her babbles by squeezing his nose.

He stared a while longer, running Marinette’s words over again.  It made sense, more or less.  His father hadn’t been around a whole lot, and he’d definitely felt like he could open up to the Gorilla more than to him.  Was that…was that what Adeline would feel, to a larger scale?  She’d start calling people Maman and Papa at some point, and he and Marinette were the ones who would be around.  He was who was going to raise her.  Why shouldn’t she call him Papa?

He swallowed heavily, pulling her hand from his nose and staring down at her tiny fingers against his.  “I guess…I guess I am your Papa.”

Marinette leaned against him, rubbing his arm.  He knew they’d have to head back to the Dupain-Chengs’ soon, that he’d have to apologize for freaking out, but they could sit there for a few more minutes.  A few more minutes for it to sink in that he was a dad.  Because he was.  He wasn’t an uncle anymore, or a godfather.  He was a papa.  And he thought he might just be okay with that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I read online while researching French Father's Day traditions that they get red roses for living fathers/grandfathers/etc and leave white roses on the graves of dead fathers/grandfathers/etc. I have no idea how accurate that is, but I decided to include it


	8. #WeGotHitched

Ladybug:  
_How do you work akuma battles into wedding vows without giving away your secret identity? #SuperheroProblems_

Chat Noir:  
_@OfficialLadybug I keep telling you it would be a lot easier if we were allowed to use puns #ViveLesPuns_

Ladybug:  
_@OfficialChatNoir Dream on, Kitty. If there’s even a single pun, I’m leaving you at the altar <3 #YouAlreadyProposedWithAPun #ThatsEnough_

Chat Noir:  
_@OfficialLadybug Meow-ch, Bugaboo #YoureTheOneWhoSaidYesToThePun #SoYouCantTalk_

*********

Marinette felt her nerves rising as she unzipped the garment bag.

“So?” she asked, pulling the dress out so they could see.  “What do you think?”

[Her wedding dress](https://www.essensedesigns.com/stella-york/wedding-dresses/5859/) was one she’d been tweaking the design of since not too long after she met Chat.  It had a strapless sweetheart neckline, and the top would be fitted until her waist, where it met a sparkly jewelled belt.  From there, it went out in a full skirt made of layered tulle.  It was her dream dress, and she’d actually been able to make it and wear it for Chat, for Adrien, and she was thrilled.

“Oh, Marinette, it’s gorgeous,” her mother cooed, and similar complements were thrown her way as she was surrounded.

It was the morning of her wedding, and she was gathered in her parents’ home.  Tom had run out on an errand, or to fix something at the church, or something—Marinette wasn’t entirely sure where he was, just that he’d disappeared at some point during Alya and Manon’s fight over who was putting her hair in rollers—so it was just the girls home.  Sabine, who looked like she was about to cry, her grandmothers Noelle Dupain and Cheng Ju, and her bridesmaids: Alya, the maid of honour; Manon, who had managed to charm her way into the bridal party; Isla, her very pregnant cousin; and Phoebe, her not pregnant cousin.

Adeline was with her grandfathers, probably still asleep if Marinette knew Yeye Liu, Pépé Montel, and Adeline.

Adrien was at the apartment, probably, with Nino.  His other usher, Chloe Bourgeois-Raincomprix—who Marinette had never actually pictured having anywhere near her wedding before she found out that, besides her and Nino, she was Adrien’s only friend—had gone into party planning after they finished school, and had appointed herself wedding planner.  While Marinette still didn’t entirely like Chloe, she was definitely the person you wanted to have around to make sure your wedding was on track.  She planned weddings and parties for the elite of the elite, and she was the best.  So their wedding was in good, if somewhat controlling, hands.

“Let’s get your hair done so you can get into it,” Alya suggested, pulling her friend down into a chair.  “Times running out and Chloe’s going to freak if you’re late.”

“Chloe can suck it,” Marinette muttered, too low for her mother or grandmothers to hear, and Alya giggled.  “She’s not the one getting married.”

Alya and Phoebe were fiddling with her hair, twisting and pinning and styling it the way she wanted, when the knock came on the door.  Sabine went to open it, cocking her head at the man who stood on the other side.

“Nino?  What are you doing here?”

Alya’s attention snapped away at the mention of her husband, turning to the door as Nino stepped inside.  He was already dressed in his suit, shuffling awkwardly in the doorway.

“Adrien’s downstairs,” he admitted.  “He’s freaking out and convinced you’re going to spontaneously combust or run away with some other guy or something.”  He shook his head, raising his arms to emphasize the ridiculousness of his friend.  “He wanted to come up himself, but its bad luck and all that.”

“So you’re supposed to report back that I’m alive and still going to go through with the wedding?” Marinette confirmed, and Nino nodded.  She paused as Phoebe sprayed her with hairspray, before grinning at Nino.  “I’m alive, and nothing’s going to stop me from going through with the wedding.”

Nino nodded again, relaxing slightly.  “Good.”  His eyes scanned the room, lighting on the kitchen counter.  “Oh!  You have snacks!”

*********

Adrien paced inside the bakery, running his hand through his already styled hair.  Chloe was going to kill him for messing up his hair, but he didn’t really care, and he knew Marinette liked how it looked messy, so there wasn’t really any problem.  The state of his hair wasn’t going to ruin the wedding, no matter what his friend might think.

He knew he was being irrational.  He knew Marinette loved him just as much as he loved her, but he couldn’t help it.  Everyone he’d ever loved was gone.  His mother.  His father.  Felix.  It felt too good to be true.  It always had.  Since the night Ladybug said yes to a date, everything about her felt like a dream he was going to wake up from one day.  At this point, he really didn’t care anymore if it was a dream.  He was going to all out, put everything into this, into her.  He’d deal with the consequences if he ever did wake up from it.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs behind him, and he spun around, heart stopping as he waited for Nino’s answer.

“Wow.  Baby Guy’s wearing shoes.”

It wasn’t Nino.

“Manon?”

She was dressed in her flowy pink bridesmaid’s dress, her hair tied up on her head in rollers, and was smirking as she leaned against the wall.

“You don’t actually think there’s even a chance Marinette will want to stop the wedding, right?” she asked, rolling her eyes as if Adrien was being the biggest idiot in the world—which, admittedly, he kind of was.  “She loves you, Adrien.  It’d take the end of the world for her to not marry you.”

Adrien sighed, running his hand through his hair again.  “I know,” he admitted.  “I’m just freaking out, you know?  I’ve been dreaming of this for so long that it feels like it’s not real, and that it could end at any—wait.”  He cut himself off, hand freezing in his hair as he stared at Manon.  “You just called me Adrien.”  A grin grew on his face, pushing his worries away for the moment.  “That’s my name!  You used my actual name!”

Manon rolled her eyes again, studying her sparkly nail polish.  “I think you’ve earned it by this point,” she said, glancing up at him.  “So yeah, I used your name.  And it felt weird and unnatural, so it’s probably not going to happen again, Chat Noir.  Just know you earned it, even if I don’t use it.”

The relief that Adrien felt rolling through him was probably more than was justified in the situation.  But Manon accepted him.  She’d used his name, even if she probably wasn’t going to again.  She liked him.

But then the worry came crashing back down with a different subject as he processed the other name she’d called him.

“What—what happened to Not Chat Noir?” he asked, smile turning to a grimace.  “Why’d you—why’d you drop the Not?”

“Please.”  Manon pulled away from the wall, stretching her arms behind her back.  “I’m not an idiot, Baby Guy.  A kid’s gonna notice if her babysitter disappears during every akuma attack and somehow always manages to run into Ladybug and get her to check on her.  Marinette was never really good with her excuses.”

Adrien swallowed.  “What are you—what are you saying, Manon?”

The girl rolled her eyes.  “I’m saying I know Marinette is Ladybug,” she said, drawing the words out as if Adrien was a child.  “And since Ladybug and Chat Noir have been dating for forever, and you look exactly like him…”  She trailed off, shrugging her shoulders.  “Don’t worry.  I won’t tell anyone.”

And, with that, Manon retreated back up the stairs, leaving Adrien confused and somewhat panicked.  But at least it distracted him from panicking about the wedding.

He jumped as a hand clapped down on his shoulder, spinning into a fighting stance with his hands raised in front of him.

Nino lifted his own hands in surrender, a plastic bag gripped in one.  “Sorry, dude,” he laughed.  “I got sidetracked with snacks.  I brought you some.”  He offered the bag as a peace offering and Adrien hesitantly accepted it.  His best man slung his arm around his shoulders, leading him towards the door.  “Marinette says she’s not dead, and she’s definitely going to marry you today, so you’ve really got nothing to worry about.”

Adrien nodded silently.  Nothing to worry about, except a seventeen year old who couldn’t even keep his proposal a secret having apparently figured out that he was a superhero.  

Nothing to worry about.

*********

“What the hell happened to your hair?”

Adrien sighed, trying to fix it without a mirror.  His hands were slapped out of the way by Chloe’s, and she expertly fixed his hair with an exasperated sigh.

“He was freaking out that Marinette is going to leave him or explode or something,” Nino helpfully answered, and Chloe rolled her eyes.

“None of that’s going to happen,” she assured her friend, stepping back to admire her work.  “And you really shouldn’t be taking your worry out on your hair, Adrikins.  There are much healthier ways to deal with it.”

“Sorry,” Adrien mumbled, looking around at the people.  He didn’t know most of them—practically all of them besides Nathalie and the Gorilla and his wife and those friends of Marinette and Nino he’d met over the last few months—but he was the one to insist on a big wedding.  He’d always wanted one, and his father probably would have insisted, filling the seats with celebrities and fashion icons to make up for the lack of family.

But this wedding was almost entirely family.  Who would have thought that both the Dupain and the Cheng sides of Marinette’s family would be so massive?  And then there were all her friends—and she had a lot.  Between Alya and Nino’s wedding and group meet ups he was now invited to, Adrien was fairly certain his friend list had grown from just Marinette, Nino, and Chloe.  Alya was definitely an addition, but he could honestly say that he could probably call the rest of their friends his as well.

It was great.

He spotted Marinette’s grandfathers from across the room, leaving Nino and Chloe as he made his way to them.

“Hey, Addy,” he cooed, plucking the baby from Montel Dupain’s arms.  “Papa missed you.”

Adeline babbled something out, and Adrien fell into conversation with his almost-grandfathers-in-law.  Time seemed to pass quickly and then suddenly Chloe was tapping on his shoulder.

“If we don’t want to get behind schedule, it’s time to start.  Marinette’s limo is five minutes out.”

Adrien nodded, his heart suddenly back in his throat, and handed back the baby.

This was it.

*********

Manon had already walked down the aisle.  So had Phoebe and Isla.  Alya squeezed her hands and then followed in their footsteps.

She was next.  In a moment, the music would change and then she’d be walking down the aisle to the rest of her life.

Her father’s grip tightened briefly on her arm and she glanced up.  Tom grinned down at his daughter with watery eyes, and she offered him a shaky smile in return.

And then the doors were opening.

And they were walking down the aisle.

Her eyes were drawn to his immediately, everyone and everything else falling away.  He was in a suit, his tie the same pink as the bridesmaids’ dresses, but she hardly noticed his clothes.  His eyes shone brightly, and a smile twitched at his lips, and Marinette could hardly breathe, could hardly move.

She was marrying him.  She was walking down the aisle towards Chat Noir, towards Adrien Agreste, the man she loved with all her being.  She had loved him for years, for so long that she couldn’t remember what it felt like to not be in love with him. 

Adrien could not think of words to describe Marinette as she walked towards him, nor could he find words to describe what he was feeling.  She was gorgeous, and he could feel tears welling up in his eyes.  This was it.  They were getting married.  She was his, and he was hers, and they were going to be together for the rest of their lives.

She got closer and closer and he couldn’t breathe, wiping at his eyes.  He hoped they didn’t ask him to say anything anytime soon.  He didn’t think he’d be able to breathe.

Suddenly, she was right there, and Tom was wrapping him in a hug, tears streaming down the large man’s face.  Adrien pulled away, his eyes stuck to Marinette’s, and offered her a timid smile.  She returned it with a breathy laugh, capturing his hands in hers.

Neither would later be able to recount anything that happened in their wedding even if their lives depended on it.  They were too caught up in one another, the joy of what was happening blurring everything together.  They exchanged rings at one point, simple white gold bands to match Marinette’s engagement ring, and their hands stayed clasped the entire time.

Their attention was caught by three words that the minister spoke, and it was just in time, too.  Nino and Alya would never have let them live it down if they’d been so out of it they’d missed the cue for their vows.

“—repeat after me.”

Adrien blinked back into focus, grinning at his love.  “I, Adrien, take you, Marinette.”

“I, Marinette, take you, Adrien.”  Her hands tightened around his, eyes locked as if she could read the secrets of the universe in his soul.

“To be my wife.”  His voice cracked on the word, his grin threatening to break his face.

“My husband.”  She pulled their joined hands upwards, pressing a kiss to his knuckles.

She started to blur, and he blinked quickly, cursing the tears for breaking his view of her.  “To have and to hold.”

Her thumb brushed over his ring, sending shivers down her spine.  “From this day forward.”

“For better, or for worse.”  He clutched her hands tighter, clinging to her like a lifeline.

“For richer, for poorer.”  Her eyes traced his lips, praying for the minister to just hurry up so she could feel them again.

“In sickness and in health.”

She took a deep breath, pushing past the lump in her throat.  “To love and to cherish and to protect.”

“To stand by your side against evil.”  His lips quirked at the hidden meaning.

“And to bring light from the darkness.”  She pressed her finger against his other ring, eyes pouring in her sincerity.

“Til death do us part.”

Their breath was caught in their throats, and they couldn’t tear their eyes away from each other as they waited for the minister to speak his final words.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife.”  A grin bloomed on Adrien’s face, as wide and as happy as any Marinette had ever seen him wear, and she knew her own probably echoed it.  She was all but shaking in anticipation as she waited for those last six words. 

“You may now kiss the bride.”

They didn’t waste a second, Adrien’s arms coming around Marinette as she all but jumped into them, her own twining around his neck.  They were smiling too widely for it to be much of a real kiss when their lips met, but neither of them could really bring themselves to care.

Marinette pulled back first, pressing her forehead against her husband’s— _husband_!—and meeting his spectacular grin.

“I love you,” she whispered, and he repeated her words back, the look in his eyes completely adoring.

The minister’s next words snapped them out of their trance.  “Please give a big hand for Monsieur and Madame Adrien and Marinette Agreste!”

The crowd’s cheers were loud enough to intrude on their bubble as well, and they pulled away just enough to clasp hands, Alya thrusting Marinette’s bouquet back into her free hand, and then they were running down the aisle as quickly as Marinette’s large dress allowed, giggling and all but tripping over themselves as rice rained down on them.

Marinette Agreste.  That was her name now.  It wasn’t quite what she’d written in curly letters when she was forcing herself against acting on her love for her partner, but people would question Marinette Noir, and she wasn’t prepared to answer that.  Agreste was better anyway.  It was his real name, the secret one she finally knew.

He’d dreamed of marrying Ladybug since the moment he met her.  He’d bought an engagement ring before they’d even been on their first date.  He loved her so much, and then she turned out to be Marinette, one of his best friends, and everything just got better.  Marinette and Ladybug were one in the same, and he couldn’t be happier to give her his name.

They were married.  She’d married Chat Noir, and he’d married Ladybug, and all their dreams were coming true.

*********

The problem with being superheroes was that you couldn’t exactly ask the villain to take a break while you went on your honeymoon.  Sure, Hawkmoth _had_ said something about taking a break if Ladybug got pregnant, and he’d seemed disappointed for not being invited to their wedding, but Marinette and Adrien really didn’t feel like chancing it.

So their honeymoon was two weeks at an all-inclusive spa resort in Paris, and was a combination of relaxation and super villain butt kicking.  Adeline was with Tom and Sabine, who were more than happy to look after their granddaughter.

“The stars are gorgeous tonight,” Marinette murmured, pressed up against her husband’s chest.  They were lying on a random roof, costumed up the way they’d been for most of their relationship.

Adrien tugged her closer, hands wrapping tightly around her.  “Your face is gorgeous tonight,” he whispered back, pressing a kiss against his wife’s hair.

“Wow.”  Marinette giggled.  “Great comeback, kitty.  You really got me there.”

“I try.”

The spa was great and all, but it was nice to be able to get out.  The roofs were quiet, and they had a familiarity that the hotel room didn’t have, a sense of home and belonging.

Marinette sat up without warning, grinning down at her love.  “I have an idea,” she said.  “Spots off.”

Adrien tilted his head, wondering what exactly his wife was planning, but didn’t move as she dug around in her pockets.  She pulled out two ribbons before pulling her transformation back up, one red with black polka dots and the other black with a green paw print pattern.  Whatever her plan was, she’d obviously planned it before they’d headed out to “patrol”.

She grinned at Adrien, waving a hand at him expectantly.  “Give me your hand.”

He raised an eyebrow.  “Why?”

“Humour me.”

Adrien complied, sitting up and holding out both hands.  Marinette grabbed the left one, quickly looping the spotted ribbon around his ring finger and tying it in a little bow.  She held out her own left hand, pressing the Chat Noir-themed ribbon into Adrien’s hand.

“Why are we doing this?” he questioned, focusing on tying the ribbon to Marinette’s ring finger.  It ended up a lot messier than the bow she’d tied, but he thought it was probably good enough for whatever Marinette was planning.

“Announcing our marriage,” she said simply, jumping to her feet as soon as Adrien had finished his subpar bow.  She pulled him up after her, dragging him by the hand to the edge of the roof.

“I could just take another picture of you sleeping,” Adrien pointed out, letting her try out different arrangements of their hands together.  “That worked purr-fectly well last time.”

“And we’ve already done that.”  Marinette seemed to settle on their hand positions, nodding at her work.  “What kind of superheroes would we be if we just repeated the same announcement every time something important happens?”

Adrien had to agree with that, though pictures of his sleeping wife would always be a good fallback option.

Marinette flipped open her yo-yo, opening the camera app, and pressed her fist against Adrien’s.  Picture taken, she quickly typed out a few lines before tilting the screen to show him her tweet.

Their left fists were connected in their celebratory fist bump, their complementary ribbons standing out on their ring fingers.  The bow on Marinette’s hand was sloppier than the one on his, as he already knew, but honestly he doubted anyone would mind.  Behind their hands was all of Paris, the buildings lighting up in the night sky, the Eiffel Tower glittering in the distance.    The words above the picture read out:

Ladybug:   
_Chat and Ladybug Noir wish you a happy night <3 #WeGotHitched #LoveYouKitty_

“So?” Marinette asked, tucking her yo-yo back to her belt so she could wrap her arms around his neck.  “Pretty good idea, right?”

“I love it,” Adrien agreed, wrapping his arms around his wife and leaning down so he could press a kiss to her nose.  Marinette wrinkled it in response.  “I love you, Marinette.”

She grinned, stretching up to capture his lips in a quick peck.  “I love you too, Adrien.”


	9. Epilogue - Joyeux Anniversaire

“Joyeux anniversaire, Adeline!”

Marinette grinned, stepping aside to let the Lahiffe’s enter her apartment.  Adeline came waddling from the living room, arms raised as she approached Nino with a cry of “Nee!”

Nino scooped up his niece, tickling her in the side.  “Happy birthday, Addy.  You feeling big?”

Adeline nodded her head, and Marinette rolled her eyes.  “She’s not technically one until tomorrow,” she reminded him, walking back to flop on the couch between Adrien and Chloe.

“Mama’s just being a party pooper, isn’t she, Addy?” Nino discarded his shoes and followed behind Alya, who had the ridiculously large present in her arms.

“Poop!” Adeline yelled, giggling.  “Poop, poop!  Mama poop!”

Adrien shot his friend a look.  “Really, Nino?”

Nino raised his free hand in defence.  “Someone’s got to teach your kid the important stuff,” he pointed out.  “You’re too much of a nerd to cover it.  Oncle Nino’s gonna teach you how to skateboard cause your Papa’s a nerd, right, Addy?”  Adeline nodded enthusiastically and Adrien rolled his eyes.

Sabine smiled from her arm chair, putting her teacup down on the coffee table.  “Should we let Adeline open her presents?” she suggested.  “She’s only been pulling at them for an hour.”

Presents were opened and cake was eaten and it was honestly one of the most fun and loving Christmas Eves Adrien had ever had.

Adeline fell asleep before her party was over, and Marinette tucked her into bed.  The sky was getting dark, and snow had started falling at some point during the night.

Adrien was in the kitchen refilling his drink when Marinette wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her chin on his shoulder.  “I’ve got an early Christmas present for you, kitty,” she whispered, shaking the small box in her hand.

Adrien freed himself from her grip, grinning at his wife and pulling off the paper.  His grin turned confused as he pulled out the tiny Chat Noir and Ladybug themed socks.

“I don’t think they’ll fit Addy,” he pointed out slowly, some obscure part of his brain pointing out that there was a simpler answer just outside of his grasp.

Marinette smiled, a hand unconsciously moving to rest on her stomach.  “They’re not for Addy.”

Adrien’s eyes flickered between Marinette’s face and her stomach as the meaning of her words sunk in.  “You—you mean you’re—you’re—?”

Marinette nodded.  “I’m pregnant, Adrien,” she whispered.  “We’re gonna have a baby.”

Adrien stared at her stomach for a long moment before his eyes snapped up to her face.  “We’re gonna have a baby,” he repeated, his voice an awed whisper.  He dropped the socks, wrapping his arms around Marinette.  His words were louder when he said them again.  “We’re gonna have a baby!”

Alya heard, because Alya hears everything, and let out a scream, and then everyone was laughing and crying and hugging.

The snow fell softly outside, but Adrien didn’t feel the cold.  He was cozy inside his apartment with his wife and his daughter and his friends and family, and he honestly was as happy as he’d ever been.

 

_And every heart in the room will melt_   
_This is a feeling I’ve never felt_   
_But it’s all about us_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays again!  
> Please check me out on Tumblr at probably-voldemort  
> Comments are life and asks are golden  
> Thanks for reading! :D


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